


Of The Stars

by Aleph (Immatrael)



Category: Sailor Moon - All Media Types
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Canon, Don't Have to Know Canon, Fantasy, Friendship, Gen, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-01-06
Updated: 2017-09-06
Packaged: 2018-01-13 08:51:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 122,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1220107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Immatrael/pseuds/Aleph
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the aeons before distant memory, an empire of myth and legend fell. But what has fallen can rise anew. The weight of ages falls on the shoulders of Usagi Tsukino. And her task will not be an easy one.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue - Of Ages Past

‘In ancient times, ten thousand years and more before the now, the world was not as it is today. Before the threads of heaven were woven into a girdle around the world, before traitors tore them down, before the celestial spheres long since broken by betrayal were even glimmers in the eyes of dreaming visionaries – in that dreaming age, Earth was a very different place.

‘Magic was everywhere, in the long ago. It ran wild and free in rivers around the globe, criss-crossing the continents in unseen lines of mystical power. And where those lines met, places of wonder and impossibility formed. These were the sacred places of youthful humanity, where colours danced and sang in the night sky, where gentle plants blossomed and wondrous beasts roamed free. The spirit of nature itself mingled freely with mortal men, and things both wondrous and terrible were born of their union.

‘The golden nations of this time will be forgotten by the men of the Age of Iron who follow them. Who now sings of the verdant vales of misty Vah, and remembers the witch-women who lived in the wild places, outside their stone-canopied cities? Unconquered Uren is fallen, consumed in fire, and masterless Matask died in ice. They were the ones who first discovered the arts of writing, of magic, of farming and herding and taming the beasts of the world. They raised the first towers so that they might be strong, and gave thanks in the first shrines to the world and the light. When shadows fell upon their hearts – as it did upon the folk of Nahelai, stripped of thought and shadow alike by dark powers – why, in time righteousness always prevailed.

‘And in this world, in a land of ice and snow where it was an eternal struggle merely to survive, there was a queen of a hard-pressed people. They lacked the verdant lands of Vah, the rich mines of Matask, and lived humbly at the very edge of the world, where sea met sky. But the queen of these hardy folk – blue-eyed, silver-haired despite her youth – carried an air of destiny about her shoulders. She was but a girl when she took the throne, and yet her bright-hearted wisdom had her acclaimed by all. Only those seduced by darker powers dared contest her compassion.

‘But the human soul is limited, and the silver queen wept as she realised she had not the power to care for all creation. Her tears touched the hearts of her subjects, and they responded. “Take our dreams,” they said, “and our hopes, and our love. For you are the queen who has guarded us and guided us, and now we wish to aid you.” And the queen was grateful, and swore to see their hopes and dreams safeguarded. As they slept, their dreams were turned towards her, and their thoughts and faith empowered her, lifting her up to such heights as none had held before.

‘Enlightened by the trust and faith of her people, the silver queen’s land prospered under her guidance, and the borders of her kingdom expanded as she welcomed others into her sisterly care. One by one, she hunted down the terrible monsters that roamed the icy wastes of her land, and led her people to call upon the magic that ran deep beneath the surface, drawing it up from where it pooled to dot the silver plains with lush enclaves where life was easy.

‘And eventually she looked to the heavens, and took her kingdom up to the moon that hung in the skies above. There, she built a paradise of silver and crystal, which the conflicts of the world could not touch, and where all who were pure at heart were welcome.

‘And she took the name Serenity, for – as she said – she was a bringer of peace.’

...

A silver fingernail traces across the writing on the ancient page, written in many different hands and much-edited, with many fragments crossed out and an entire section added in a slightly different style. Silky locks of hair brush against the crackling parchment as their owner bends to read the faded text. Then the dark-skinned woman straightens, flicking her night-black hair back, and crosses to gently place the book back on its shelf.

The room is large and open – larger than perhaps is necessary, for one could fit forty people across the breadth of this space, and it is longer than it is wide. But then again, perhaps not. Whoever built it clearly meant to create a sense of grandeur. Rich, faded decorations and lavish carvings adorn the cupboards and shelves along the walls, and the ceiling is adorned with a vast mural of a starry sky lit by a full moon. The floor, made of a milky stone, has paths worn into it by the passage of countless footsteps. A desk carved of some ancient wood – polished by long use – stands opposite the door, in front of a clear crystal pane that takes up the entire far wall. The view is almost unbelievable, a landscape of glittering ice and sparkling silver plains seen from miles above the ground. But she is used to the view, and it barely registers after so much time. She pays it no mind, lost in her own thoughts.

‘Was that how it happened?’ she asks herself softly. ‘I cannot be sure. Ten thousand years and more have washed away the facts, and left only feelings in place of memories. This book _feels_ true, but I have read it a thousand times, and I know it cannot be right in every detail.’ She purses her lips reflectively, glancing out of the crystal window that made up one of the walls of her vast and roomy office. ‘Though those events predate even me...’ she adds, and sighs wearily. She seems very old as she does, though her face is youthful. Only her eyes, clear crimson, betray the weight of years if one looks carefully.

‘Well,’ she sighs again, after a long moment’s thought. “Time and past to begin my search anew. I have yet to find those I seek. And word from Earth worries me. More so than usual.’ Her lips quirk wryly. ‘Promises to keep, promises to keep,’ she murmurs with a hint of sardonic amusement, and stands to go. A flick of her wrist opens the door to one of the richly decorated cabinets, behind which hangs a vertical pane of water, mirror-like in its stillness. The woman’s ebony skin turns a lustrous black for a second as she collapses down on herself into a smaller shape. The water ripples briefly as the nimble form darts through it, and the office is left empty once again.

Now let the eye pull back from the empty office. Let it pass through the crystal window even as the cabinet door swings closed, and see the wall outside – some unknown stone that is harder than marble, more lustrous than pearl. It is decorated with fine carvings that tell a saga that spans thousands of years, which seem to sing even as they are viewed. The gaze is drawn downwards, and the height of the tower is revealed in truth – for it is no mere tower. The spire stands miles high, staring down upon mountains, narrowing as it rises like a needle piercing the fabric of the sky. This lofty office is on the highest floor, with nothing above save open sky and the shifting silver-white dome of the heavens.

Now look again, not downwards this time but out. Like a bird taking flight from its window-ledge perch, let the view move out across the ice plains, slowly at first but fast picking up speed, across argent arctic fields of snow arranged just so for their aesthetic beauty. They are dotted here and there with patches of verdant green in lush reserves, steam rising from rich rainforest to condense on the inside of the crystal domes that contain them. Movement can be seen within them, but they pass behind and fade into the distance too quickly to make out what prowls within.

Far up ahead, a shape moves. It is an enormous fortress-city, a day’s hard walk from side to side of the soaring citadel walls that surround it. A vicious blizzard beats against stone and ice, gale-driven snowflakes freezing on the glacier that buries half the city. The enormous edifice drifts across the land, a stone ship sailing upon a frozen sea. But rather than parting before it, the spurs and sheets of ice vanish into the oncoming wall as if merely passing through a curtain of mist, and appear again from the other side once it passes over them completely.

But enough time spent here. Fly onward, faster and faster, as rainbow light glimmers overhead in arcing paths that pass between the rippling veils of colour that drift across the sky. The weather shifts unpredictably as the miles fall behind – where a blizzard howled mere moments ago over the travelling conurbation-citadel, it is now bright and warm. Shifting beams from the heavens play in rippling patterns over the ice fields, their illumination hinting at half-hidden shadows buried deep beneath the surface. In some areas the whiteness melts, flowing away to leave slick featureless plains under the areas of unnatural heat.

Soon, the wide and open lowlands give way to the foothills of the mountains. Slow, as they approach, and see another city, nestled between the horns of a crescent of mountains. This metropolis is darker, though unfrozen, with a chill wind whipping at its streets. Unlike its sister-stronghold, it is stationary, scarred savagely in ages past by some fearsome force that carved a bloody path of destruction across it. A blackened rift still wounds the ring-wall, and the streets are empty and all but deserted.

Yet even this is left behind as the gaze moves ever onward, up and over the mountains. The snow gives way to bare rock at their uttermost heights, and cairns have been raised there on the high peaks, inscribed with symbols both new and ancient. A group of figures gather around one even now, ant-like in the distance as the mind’s eye flashes past them. They dance, slow and solemn, around the graven monolith they visit, in a ritual of both remembrance and regret.

The peaks fall away in their turn, and the eye skims across snow once more. The layer of ice is thinner now, though still a formidable slab, with deep, dark water beneath the hoary crust instead of land. To one side, the light dims and darkens until nothing but blackness can be seen, a moving void of light which veils things unseen in many years. And ahead is the edge, rushing ever closer. For no sea borders this land, no ocean touches its shore. The dome that rises from the coast to stretch across the sky is a shimmering, shifting wall. Uncounted trillions of tiny fluttering, flickering silvery-white shapes make it up – are they butterflies? Ribbons? Petals? Snowflakes? Stars? It is impossible to say, so chaotic and random is their swirling and spinning. For all that can be seen through the eddying curtains, they might as well go on forever – nothing is visible beyond.

But plunge into the ever-changing barrier nonetheless. Let the currents carry the eye forward through secret paths and hidden tributaries, across many years and a shadow’s width of distance. Eventually, the whirling silver shapes dissolve into foam and froth before giving way entirely; to a bright sunlit sky and a warm refreshing breeze, above a vibrant and bustling city.

And perhaps more importantly, to the beginning of a story.

...


	2. An Amazing Coincidence! Usagi Escapes a Terrible Fate!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An Auspicious Beginning

In every young woman’s life, there comes a time when she must face adversity. When she must bravely rise against the forces that seek to drag her down into corruption and depravity and make a stand. When she must gather all of her will and virtue, and hold fast to the ideals of charity, patience, wisdom, kindness, resolve and honesty.

Such were the thoughts of Usagi Tsukino, 16-year old resident of Juuban Municipal High School, on a sunny summer afternoon as she walked home from school. For that time was now upon her, and the final pair of these moral principles were proving somewhat difficult to live up to. The source of her dilemma lurked in her satchel; a malevolent paper fiend waiting with cruel anticipation for a chance to bring down fire and calamity on her head.

In retrospect, she should _probably_ have studied a bit harder for that English test. She might have just barely gotten away with only a disapproving glare had she managed half marks on it. But a 30...

“Ahhh...” she moaned quietly to herself as she trudged down the pavement. “Mum is going to _kill_ me when she sees this mark...”

‘... going to _kill_ you if you keep...’

Usagi squeaked in fright and spun around, looking for the source of the sudden voice. It was faint, and seemed to be coming from some distance away. It also sounded annoyed. Very annoyed indeed. Usagi actually blushed slightly at some of the language it was using. She didn’t understand most of it, but it sounded... bad.

But despite the language the voice was using, it sounded scared and panicky, in need of help. Closing her eyes and turning in a slow circle to pinpoint the direction it was coming from, Usagi dashed towards it, the certain doom waiting for her at home temporarily forgotten.

‘... furthermore, you brats are _not_ funny, okay? Now go... hey! Oh no you _don’t_ , put me _down_ you little dolts, or I’ll... whoa, what’s that? What are you... oh no, get... argh! Hey! Stop that! Get it away from...”

The voice cut off abruptly, and Usagi’s eyes widened. Putting on an extra turn of speed, she skidded round the last corner separating her from the commotion, a shout of condemnation on her lips.

“Hey!”

She found herself in a small parking lot, mostly empty of cars at this time of day. There was no sign of whoever had been shouting, only a group of kids across the lot from her, clustered around something in between them. Usagi looked around, frowning as the phone in her pocket chimed. The girl ignored the noise. She had been _sure_ that the voice had come from this direction.

“Mreow! Mreaa, mreeoooow!”

The yowling cries of an angry cat erupted from the centre of the group of kids, and Usagi forgot her puzzlement as a new injustice presented itself. “Hey!” she yelled again, this time more forcefully. “You brats! What are you doing? Stop it!”

The children – they couldn’t have been more than five or six – looked up, took one look at her annoyed expression, and ran for it. Usagi stalked over to the little black form they had been crowded around, and squatted down next to it.

“Hello kitty,” she said, stroking it. It uncurled tentatively and looked up at her with startlingly red eyes. Usagi sucked in a surprised breath at the colour – cats didn’t normally have red eyes, did they? – then frowned. There was a sticker plastered over the cat’s forehead, and its coat was all muddy. “Poor thing,” she said sympathetically. “Don’t worry, I’ll help you! Even if you weren’t who I was looking for. Say... did you happen to hear someone yelling just now? Then suddenly go quiet?”

“... reoow?” The cat looked up at her curiously, then hissed and batted her hands away, drawing a couple of thin lines of blood where its claws caught the side of her hand. Usagi yelped, and quickly drew back as the animal started pawing at its forehead, trying to dislodge the sticker.

“Hey, hey,” she said as softly as she could manage. She reached forward again, trying to avoid the frantic movements of the claws and get a grip on the sticker. “Here now, just... ow! Just stay still, and let me... there we go!”

With the writhing animal in a firm grip, she gently thumbed the edge of the sticker up, and pulled it off slowly and carefully, revealing a strange pale marking on its head, like a bald spot in the shape of an upturned crescent. The cat went limp for a second as she did so, blinking at her in dull surprise.

“See?” Usagi said cheerfully. “Isn’t that be- ahhh!” She was cut off as the cat renewed its struggles to get loose, becoming a writhing ball of fur and claws and fangs. It managed to find a fleeting purchase on her sleeve, ripped its way free from her grasp and leapt, ricocheting off her head to land on one of the few cars still in the lot.

Usagi yelped, and her eyes glazed over for a second as she swayed dizzily and waited for the world to stop spinning round and round. When everything settled back down to normal, she found the cat still standing there, head tilted slightly to one side, staring at her intently.

“... uh...” she said. “... hi, kitty? Um... you’re welcome?” She smiled, hoping against hope that the animal wouldn’t decide to try clawing her again. But it had clearly been mistreated by those brats, and she wouldn’t be surprised if it didn’t like anyone human-shaped at this point.

The eerie stare continued.

“Well then...” Usagi laughed, a trifle nervously, “if you’re okay, I’ll just... get going, then...” She took a few paces back. The cat advanced forward by the same amount, leaping down to the ground and looking up at her. The clear crimson eyes narrowed, and the little animal made a quiet noise that was half purr, half hiss.

Usagi’s freaky-weird-stuff limit had been reached. “Well! I’ll be going then!” she announced, and spun around. If it kept following her, she reasoned, then at the very least she wouldn’t _see_ it following her.

... which sounded a lot less encouraging when she put it that way, but she could probably outpace a cat if she had to. Not that she was going to run away from it. Marching smartly back towards the parking lot’s entrance, she blinked as she noticed the figure leaning on the wall next to it for the first time.

Naru Osaka raised an eyebrow at her, clearly struggling to hold back a grin. “Hey, Usagi-chan,” she said. “Any reason you’re talking to a cat?”

Usagi grinned sheepishly, hooking an arm through her best friend’s and dragging her along. “Hush up, you,” she ordered cheerfully, “and tell me if it’s still following us.”

Naru rolled her eyes. “It darted into the bushes as soon as it saw me,” she reassured Usagi. “Don’t worry, it’s gone now. And I won’t ask why you were having a Mexican standoff with a housecat, either, or why you didn’t answer my text. Because there’s something more important going on! Our store is having a jewellery sale! Want to come?”

“Really? A sale?” Usagi gasped, eyes widening. Naru’s mother ran a high-class jewellery store that carried some of the best pieces in the city, enough that Naru always got an obscene (from Usagi’s point of view) amount of pocket money. The redhead had been given a few necklaces or earrings on past birthdays as well, and they were always gorgeous. Usually, everything the store sold was way, way outside Usagi’s price range. But with a sale, she might actually be able to buy something for herself! And even if she couldn’t, she could still look, right?

“Awesome!” she squealed excitedly. “Of course I’ll come! Ooo, I should get some rings! No, a cute bracelet! Or a locket!”

A dark shadow slipped back out of the undergrowth as the two girls departed, chattering enthusiastically with the occasional squeal or giggle. Silent and sure, wary of any attention, it slipped onto the pavement in pursuit. Watching intently, in careful feline calculation.

...

The store that Naru’s mother ran was a multi-floor building on a street corner in town, with bright walls and sparkling windows offering tasteful displays to pedestrians passing by. The news about the sale seemed to have spread, because by the time they got there, it was packed. No, it was _thronged_ with people, rushing from counter to counter, elbowing each other out of the way and eagerly snatching for the best offers. And checking out the merchandise, Usagi could see why.

“Ooohhh!” she cooed, scrutinising a delicate filigree necklace of silver links and lustrous pearls. “Naru-chan, look at this! It’s beautiful!” Naru glanced over from her own perusal of the display case and whistled.

“Beautiful, yeah,” she agreed. “But look at that price tag.” She pointed to the label just under the stand, on which was marked the price.

Usagi looked, and winced. “300,000 yen? I can’t afford that!” she complained. “Aww... but it’s so pretty! Why does it have to be so expensive?”

“It’s because of the white diamonds in the lattice,” a new voice explained. Yelping, Usagi spun around to find a young woman in a store uniform, with her black hair tied up in a ponytail. “But for you, I can lower the price to just 15,000 yen!”

Usagi gaped. So did Naru. “300,000 yen to 15,000?” she exclaimed. “That much? Oh, yes! Usagi-chan, this is Saya-chan, she’s one of the store assistants! Mum’s out of town at the moment, so she’s in charge of the store. Saya-chan, this is my friend Usagi-chan!”

“Ahh?” the woman said. “Very nice to meet you, Usagi-chan! I think that would really suit you, if you wanted it!”

Usagi was torn. On the one hand, it _was_ gorgeous. On the other hand, even with the discount, it would cost her five months’ worth of her pocket money. And her birthday was past, so she couldn’t get it that way.

The point was rendered moot, as Saya had spoken a little too loudly. A squeal of eager greed rang out, and Usagi was elbowed out of the way by a gaggle of middle-aged women and schoolgirls who surrounded the counter in a frenzy of bidding and jockeying for position. Struggling to breathe and wincing at the pain from her smarting ribs, Usagi squeezed out of the mob into the comparatively open space of the shop floor. Naru emerged beside her, looking somewhat frazzled, and cast a glance back to where Saya was enthusiastically encouraging the clamour and chaos.

“Well,” she said. “She’s certainly having fun. Though I’m surprised Mum authorised this. I guess maybe she’s trying something different? Did she? Maybe I should call her... no, she’ll be busy and I don’t want to put her in a bad mood. I mean, she might get me a present. But still, this is...” she looked around the store, taking in the bustling crowds, “... well, it’s certainly bringing people in.” Her tone of voice suggested that she did not think this was entirely a good thing.

Usagi shrugged, equally mystified. Her attention was only half there, as she was checking her funds. Or rather, her lack of them. A thorough search of all her pockets and the deepest recesses of her satchel turned up twenty-four yen, three sweets, a hairtie, a pretty stone she’d found a few days ago which had turned out not to be lucky, her somewhat battered mobile phone and housekeys, and the Test of Doom. And that last one more or less nuked her chances of getting an advance on the next five months of pocket money.

“Sorry Naru-chan,” she sighed regretfully. “I’m broke. And this place is really crowded, so I’m gonna go off home, okay? See you tomorrow.”

“Sure. See you!” Naru replied, turning back to the store. Though not before throwing one last parting shot over her shoulder. “As long as your mum and dad don’t kill you over that test score!”

Muttering under her breath and pouting sulkily, Usagi left the store. No sooner had she walked out of the door, however, when she collided with something tall, broad and hard.

“Ow!” she complained, then realised that what she had walked into was in fact someone’s chest. “Oh! Sorry, sorry, I didn’t mean to...”

Usagi tailed off as she looked up, and scowled as she recognised who she was apologising to. It was _Him_.

She didn’t actually know his name; they had never got as far as introductions. All she knew about the young man was that he seemed to be a local university student, and had been the bane of her existence for the past few months. It was bad enough that he was snarky, insulting, rude and mean whenever they met, taking every opportunity to snipe at her just as she did him...

... but why did he have to be so damn _hot?_ It was a crime against Love and Justice for such a hunk to be such a jerk! Tall, dark and handsome, with intense eyes and dark, dishevelled hair that all but cried out to have fingers threaded through it... he was the kind of guy most girls _dreamed_ of meeting! At least until he opened his mouth and came out with some sort of...

“Oi, meatball-head! Are you blind as well as clumsy? Look where you’re going!”

... insult. Usagi glared at him. “Well excuse me for stumbling!” she fired back irritably. “There must not have been enough room on the pavement for me and your _ego_ to both fit!”

He sniffed dismissively, and glanced at the shop she had come out of, and then back to her. A single eyebrow rose, taunting. “Buying pretty jewellery for yourself?” he asked, smirking. “You know, however many bracelets and necklaces you put on, they’re not going to help any more than makeup will. I’d just save the money, if I were you.”

Oh, he had _not_ just implied what Usagi thought he had just implied. She turned the glare up a few notches, flushing red in a mixture of anger and embarrassment. “Well... well... what are _you_ doing heading in there, then?” she fumed. “Are you between girlfriends at the moment? I guess plying a girl with expensive gifts _would_ be the only way you could get a date.”

“Well, at least I have that resort. How are _you_ doing on the dating front?” The question caught Usagi off guard, and she gaped in surprise for a second, blushing genuinely at the unexpected intimacy of the question. Was he...?

The jerk raised an eyebrow. “Well? Found anyone with an interest in those greasy meatballs you call hair?”

If looks could kill, he would have had to be scraped off the storefronts on the other side of the street. “You... i-it’s none of your business! Jerk!” Sticking her tongue out at him and spinning on her heel, she marched off down the street towards home, muttering colourful indictments with every irritated step.

Her irritation had mostly burnt itself out by the time she arrived home, with the cold ashes of dread replacing them. Maybe... maybe if she told her dad first? Or better yet, didn’t tell them at all? No, no, that would be lying. She’d just... forget to tell them, for a week or so. Until she’d got a better mark to offset it. Yeah, that would work.

The TV was audible as a low drone as she entered the house, and she caught a bit of it as she passed the living room. A news channel, from the sound of it.

_“... returning again to the bombing at the Shinten Electronics factory in Osaka, we have eye-witness reports that confirm that the masked vigilante Sailor V was present. According to official sources, the criminal group known as Five has claimed responsibility for the attack, and sworn to defeat Sailor V for her meddling. Police continue to pursue both anonymous groups, and police chief...”_

That meant that she wouldn’t be seeing her dad until suppertime. First obstacle, cleared! Now all she had to do was get past...

“Usagi! There you are!” Ikuko Tsukino leaned out of the kitchen, blue hair falling in gentle waves behind her. Dusting off her hands, she stepped out into the corridor to look her errant daughter up and down. “I was starting to wonder if you’d managed to get lost somehow.”

... her mother. Usagi froze, cold sweat beading on her forehead. “Ah ha ha... yes, sorry about that!” she replied hastily. “Naru-chan’s mother has a sale at her jewellery store. But everything’s still too high-priced for me, so I came back here straight after. Anyway, I’ll be off up to my room now, so...”

“Oh, that reminds me, I ran into Umino-kun as he was coming back! He said there was a test today. He got very good marks on it.” Ikuko smiled brightly and cheerfully, extending a hand. “So, Usagi? What did you get? Let me see?”

“...” With extreme reluctance, Usagi slid the test paper out of her satchel and handed it over. Ikuko had to tug quite hard to get it out of her grip, and raised an eyebrow at her before looking down to see how she had done.

An ominous silence ensued. And was broken by menacing tones of maternal ire.

“Usagi...”

“Waaah! I did my best, don’t hurt me!”

Ikuko was having none of it. “What kind of mark is this?” she growled. “Thirty percent? You told me you were doing well in your English classes!”

Usagi waved her hands frantically, denying she had done any such thing. “It was a fluke! The stars were aligned wrong! I’ll do better on the next one, I promise!”

The anger seemed to drain out of the older woman as she sighed. “So you keep saying... I worry about you, Usagi. At this rate, you’re going to have real trouble getting into a good university.”

Great. Now Usagi felt like a total heel, as well as terrified for her life. She wasn’t fooled by the concerned tones, and was well aware that her mother’s temper could flare up again at any moment, given cause.

“I’m sorry, mama,” she said, truthfully. She _did_ hate disappointing her parents. It was just that studying was _hard_. As were tests. And homework. And school in general. She could generally get through it when she could bring herself to concentrate on it for more than five minutes at a time, but more often than not she’d get distracted by something before she’d even finished working on the first question.

“I really will try harder next time,” she promised hanging her head. “I know you just want what’s best for me. And that you’re right.”

“Alright. Go on up to your room, then,” sighed Ikuko, turning back to the kitchen. “Oh,” she threw back over her shoulder, “and you’re grounded for a week.”

“What?” Usagi shrieked, shame and guilt gone as she spun around in protest. “That’s not fair! You can’t do that!”

“Ha ha!” laughed Shingo from the top of the stairs. “Dumbo Usagi! Mum, you should ground her until she brings her next test home, and not unground her till she gets a better mark!”

“Shut up, runt!” yelled Usagi, turning a death glare on her little brother and shaking a fist at him. Catching her expression, Shingo yelped in fright and dashed into his bedroom, slamming the door behind him.

“Hmm... he has a good point, though,” mused Ikuko. “Alright then, you’re grounded until your next test comes back, and then we’ll decide. Alright?”

“But...”

“No arguing.” For a moment, Usagi heard the hollow tones of the apocalypse in Ikuko’s voice, a certain promise of death, doom and damnation. Sensing that her life was in imminent peril, her body took over from her brain and she nodded frantically.

“Okay sure that sounds fair I have to go study now so I hope you’ve had a good day but bye!” she babbled, and raced upstairs as fast as her legs could carry her. Only when she was in her room, leaning against the door and breathing hard, did her body hand conscious control back over to her brain along with a dirty look and a stern warning not to put it in danger like that again.

“... great,” she muttered. Grounded, with no phone calls allowed, and she’d promised to study. Trudging over to her desk, she slumped into the chair and tugged her English book out of her satchel. Flipping it open to roughly the right page, she stared at the incomprehensible gibberish and willed it to make sense.

The afternoon dragged out slowly, broken only by supper and a brief diversion on the way back up from the kitchen to chase Shingo into his room again and yell threats of brutal vengeance through the door. Besides that, though, there was just Usagi and the monstrous spectre of schoolwork. By the time the evening came, she was thoroughly wiped out, and slumped onto her bed with a put-upon sigh. Sleep came quickly, and brought with it...

... dreams.

...

_Figures danced in a vast hall, swirling and blending together in veils of colour. Couples waltzed on the wide, mosaic-tiled floor, steps tracing out intricate patterns. Others twirled on crystalline discs that spun lazily through the air, drifting from barely above head height to almost as high as the distant, vaulted ceiling. Music filled the air, a slow, heart-tugging melody. Its simplicity concealed layers upon layers of subtle complexities, swelling and surging like the tides. And carried upon it were sweet, foam-soft songs, caressing every person there as if sung for them alone._

_Music was not the only thing in the air. Hundreds of birds of silver light soared and circled above her. Their softly glowing feathers illuminated the room with a cool, gentle glow. Further above them still, through the crystal panes set into the high ceiling, the shining blue-green planet in the velvet-black heavens added its own faint light to the room, drawing approving glances from those that danced below._

_She stepped forward lightly from the base of the grand staircase she stood on, and took the offered hand of a pale woman with greyish-black eyes, whose chalk-white skin was dusted with paler grey markings. The woman smiled to her and said something, though the words themselves floated away on the swelling chords of the music. Together, they stepped lightly onto the floor, the woman’s grey-silver robes swirling gracefully while her own white dress shimmered as the thousands of tiny gemstones woven into it caught the light._

_The music shifted, speeding up ever-so-slightly into a new tempo. Sliding away from the pale woman, she took the hand of a handsome young knight clad in ceremonial armour, who bowed low to her and kissed her fingers. Fingertips touching, they began to mimic the quick, graceful steps that other couples were using, turning and spinning across the floor. Their movements took them away from the stairs, towards the far wall. There, floating panes of clear water hung in the air, rippling every few moments as richly-attired courtiers emerged out of them, bone dry, to join the festivities._

_The music faltered, and a murmur ran through the crowd. Slowly, the gently spinning couples and loosely clustered groups began to shift, drifting out away from the centre of the floor and forming a wide circle. Abandoning her partner, she moved forward curiously, slipping closer to see what the source of the commotion was. Finally reaching the edge of the open space that had been cleared, she felt herself gasp._

_Two men faced one another at the centre of the wide ring, clad in richly decorated armour of lacquered black and shining steel. They had each cast aside their cloaks, and wielded long, gleaming blades with the ease of long practice. The taller of the two - dark-skinned and dark-haired - had his back to her, but his opponent was a young, handsome man with blonde hair and a determined expression. Slowly they circled; their eyes intent and watchful for any openings in their opponent’s guard._

_Abruptly, as if on some invisible signal, they struck. The younger man lunged forward, extended arm wreathed in a serpent of scarlet light. His dark-haired opponent flicked his blade out and a radiant eagle of gold flashed into life, seizing the snake in its claws. A clash of steel rang out, and the serpent faded to reveal the young blond skidding back. He shook out his arm and saluted his opponent with his blade, who returned the gesture in kind. Polite applause ran around the ring of spectators, and she felt her heart leap with pride and warmth, directed towards the taller knight._

_The younger man was not so easily beaten, though. He darted forward again, aura resolidifying around him to outline the hulking form of a big cat with a barrel chest and sparking scarlet fangs. It reared up to lash out with a paw in concert with his slash, opening powerful jaws to bite and snap at its foe. But the eagle dissolved even as he did so, scattering in every direction as a cloud of silver-white butterflies. Like a leaf on the wind, the taller man slid away from the blows as if they were the childish strikes of an untrained child._

_Scowling now, the blond’s aura changed again, into a hawk. With a piercing battle cry, it swooped forward with him, aiming for the very heart of the swarm of butterflies. This attack was far more intense than those before, a blindingly fast rush outlined in scarlet fire. The same scarlet burned along the outstretched wings of the hawk, and the butterflies they struck vanished in tiny plumes of flame. If this totem swept through the swarm, it would incinerate everything it touched, consuming the silver-white kaleidoscope in a ravenous bonfire. She felt as though a cold hand had seized her by the throat, and a gasp of fear escaped her._

_But butterflies became a falconer’s hood, and blades clashed as white light blinded and bound the bird. It squirmed free, shifting to become a regal symbol of authority, calling the servant to hand. But that too was countered, as many stood against one, forcing obedience. The clash of blades and the flares of light were almost too fast to track now, as the two men waged a dual duel of metaphor and martial arts. Rams were tamed, herders driven off by horsemen, horsemen cut down by infantry who fell ill until healing came – yet all this was just half the contest of skills. And it was on the martial field that the blond slipped up. Too slow to leap away from a rising foot, he took the blow to his knee, and collapsed._

_Her heart soared, and she sought to drown out the applause of others with her own._

_The fallen man was not quite done for, though. Rising shakily onto his feet, he gathered himself again and called forth his aura once more. This time, though, he did not shape it into a totem. Instead, he compressed it down, forming a roiling ball of dark gold and bloody scarlet hues. Glaring defiantly up at his advancing opponent, he hurled it. As it flew, it grew in size until it was taller than a man, a molten ball of power that left scorch marks on the polished floor as it sped towards its target._

_The dark-skinned man folded his arms, and waited. Fear consumed her, a sickly pang of dread coiling in her belly and stopping her breath._

_The attack struck, and the explosion of light and force made the onlookers flinch backwards reflexively. For a moment, a rising smoke cloud obscured the point where the man had been standing. But even as a shocked and horrified gasp went up from around the ring, the smoke was blown violently away from within._

_Standing unharmed at the centre was the dark-haired victor, a light-wreathed mandala shining behind him. A many-coloured core of opal shone at its centre, illuminating the stone strata of the halo itself. Prismatic layers overlaid the rock, shifting and turning around the ornate ring like the movement of tides and continents. Backed by the transcendent manifestation of his power, he looked regal, magnificent. Her emotions were a turbulent mess of relief and desire as he strode over to his opponent, the sword swinging out to tickle the beaten man’s throat. The blond chuckled and said something, but over the noise of the crowd she could hear neither him nor the victor. She felt pulled towards the champion, wanting him, yearning to be back in his arms..._

_“Stop daydreaming, gal,” a harsh voice croaked. A gnarled hand grabbed her by the shoulder, fingers digging in hard enough to bruise, and yanked her round to face..._

_... a woman._

_She was ancient, with dark, wrinkled skin so old and weathered it looked like stone. Her hair was bone-white, bound tightly into dreadlocks that were adorned with brass and silver charms and amulets, and she wore opulent robes of scarlet and black. But most shocking of all was her face. A terrible scar ran down from her left temple, slanting down parallel to her cheekbone and splitting her eyebrow in two. The eye in that socket was a thing of liquid brass, with a glinting black pupil that looked hard and polished. It burned into her as fiercely as its dark brown partner as the crone scowled at her in disapproval._

_“Much as you are clearly enjoying the duel, sweet princess, I fear I must interrupt,” she said, in a tone that did not sound at all apologetic. Her grip shifted from shoulder to wrist, tight enough that there was no way of escaping from it. “Which is to say, you are coming with me, and we are going to have a talk. In preparation for the talk I will be having with your father, and the talk he and your mother will be having with you. Your behaviour recently has been disgraceful, and entirely out of keeping with the standards expected of you.”_

_A sharp tug on wrist pulled her closer, and that glinting brass-obsidian eye narrowed at her as the woman hissed in a menacing voice too low to be heard over the cheers and applause of the crowd. “And don’t think I don’t know you were listening in on your mother and me talking earlier. We’ll be discussing_ that _, as well.”_

...

Usagi woke with a strangled gasp of terror, flinching back from the lingering spectre of that ancient woman. She lay on her side weakly, staring at the door with wide, frightened eyes as her breathing slowed down and her heartbeat returned to normal. That dream... what had that _been?_ That woman... and the man, before her, they’d seemed so _familiar_... and yet a thousand miles away at the same time.

A faint noise came from behind her, and a gust of cool night air wound its way into the room. Usagi glanced back absently, her mind still half dream-snarled. The window was hanging open – the source of the cold air. When had that happened? She was sure she had shut it properly this morning. It must have swung open sometime during the night. She grumbled quietly, unwilling to leave the soft, warm haven of the covers to close it.

“Stupid windows...”

Well, it was July. A bit of fresh air wouldn’t kill her. Her eyes slid shut again, and she wriggled comfortably in her cocoon of blankets as she drifted off towards sleep – hopefully dreamless this time.

Another quiet sound. Softer, this time, and a series of them rather than just one. Almost like... footsteps...

The mattress squeaked as a light weight landed on the bed next to her legs, and a voice spoke.

‘Usagi Tsukino,’ it said in tones of quiet triumph. ‘At last, I have found you.’

Usagi opened her eyes again and blinked at the opposite wall. This was not how her dreams normally started. She shifted under the covers, turning to see who was talking to her. And froze as she met a pair of vivid red eyes.

‘You are a sacred warrior, a chosen child of the Moon,’ said the cat from the parking lot. Her coat gleamed in the faint light of the streetlamps reflected from outside, a lustrous ebony shape cut out of the night. The crescent on her forehead gleamed gold, and her eyes were shining pools of crimson.

‘And you are needed.’

...


	3. The First Fight! Usagi Leaps into the Fray!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An Auspicious Beginning

‘You are a sacred warrior, a chosen child of the Moon,’ said the cat. It was the one from the parking lot, she was fairly sure of that. Most cats didn’t have crescent-moon-shaped marks on their foreheads. In fact, thinking about it, she wasn’t sure she’d ever seen a cat with a mark like that before. ‘And you are needed.’

“... eh?” replied Usagi, intelligently. She stared at the cat for a moment, before a light blinked on in her head and she nodded to herself. “Ohhh, right. I’m dreaming.” She examined the feline hallucination critically, swinging her legs out from under her covers. “You’re a very odd dream, Miss Kitty. How do you know my name?”

‘... I’m psychic,’ said the cat in a deadpan voice. ‘And I’m not a dream. My name is Luna, and I have been searching long and hard for someone like you. You are a reincarnated warrior of light and justice, reborn from an ancient empire of _are you even listening to me?_ ’

Usagi looked down from where she had been bouncing on the bed, flapping her arms and making whistling noises. “Huh? Oh, yeah. You might know! Tell me, Miss Psychic Dream Kitty, how do I learn to fly?”

‘...’ The cat glared at her. ‘How would I know how you- I just said this isn’t a dream!’

“I guess not...” Usagi sighed. “Oh! Then can I dream about Motoki nii-san again?” A faint blush stained her cheeks as she considered what sort of dream she could have, and she looked eagerly at the door.

‘I said you’re... fine, okay,’ grumbled the cat. ‘Hold out your hand to me, and I’ll give you a very special present.’ Eyes shining, the girl held out her hand expectantly, and Luna considered it gravely.

Then, in a single fluid movement, she raked a claw across it.

“... waaaahhh!” Usagi wailed, snatching her now-bleeding hand back. “Why did you do that! You’re mean!” Her lips trembled, and tears gathered in her eyes. The cat simply looked at her flatly.

‘ _Now_ do you believe you’re not dreaming?’

“... huh.” Usagi blinked as she considered this point, tears momentarily forgotten. And then scrambled backwards, pointing wildly at the cat. “Ahh! You’re real! And talking! Talking cat! Evil talking psychic cat!”

‘Finally, she gets it...’ grumbled the cat. ‘And I’m not a cat, technically. Or psychic. My name is Luna. And I am... well, to keep things simple and help you understand, let’s just say that I’m a magical familiar spirit sworn to help and advise the House of the Moon. Which is where _you_ come in.’

“I do?”

‘Yes, you do. Now pay attention, I have something for you.’

Instantly, Usagi stuck both hands before her back. After a second’s pause, she grabbed her pillow and held it between them as a shield.

‘...’ said Luna, and sighed. ‘Not _that_ kind of... I’m not going to scratch you again, I promise! And I’m...’ she paused, considering her words carefully, ‘and I apologise for scratching you the first time. It was the quickest way to get you to take me seriously. Now, watch closely.’

She curled into a ball and closed her eyes. Her fur rippled like long grass blown by a gale, and for a moment she looked less like a real, living cat and more like a feline-shaped _something_ cut out of the velvety blackness of space. Usagi’s heart beat like a drum, her head spun with vertigo, and for a moment she heard the sweet symphonic tones of the music from her dreams echoed in her mind’s ear. She felt... warm, all of a sudden, as though she’d spent long enough outside on a winter’s day that she’d stopped noticing the chill, and only just come inside and sat down next to a heater. For the first time since the strange little cat had begun talking to her, she considered the possibility that it might be entirely serious.

Then Luna rippled again, becoming an ordinary cat once more, and uncurled. She stepped back, leaving something small and shiny where nothing had been before, and all thought was lost as the breath caught in Usagi’s throat.

_Mine_. That was the first thought, instant and reflexive, an instinct stemming from so deep within her that she couldn’t even name its source. It was hers, and it was precious. The next thought was wordless, and escaped her as a breathy sigh of awe and longing as she reached forward to run her fingers over Luna’s gift.

The brooch that the cat had left behind was a masterpiece of craftsmanship. At its centre was a beautiful rose-pink gem, shaped into a stylised heart that rested over an upturned golden crescent moon. The disk that they were set in seemed to be shaped from alternating rings of silver and white pearl, fitted together so flawlessly that Usagi couldn’t even feel the seams. Her fingers did pick up some sort of engraving, though, and as she gently lifted it up to the light, she saw that the heart and crescent sat at the centre of a lotus blossom etched into the disk as a relief. Four tiny gems set into the compass points of the outermost silver ring completed it; red, blue, green and yellow.

It made the jewellery she’d been staring at in Naru’s mother’s shop look like tawdry trash fit only to be discarded.

‘It’s yours,’ said Luna quietly into the silence. ‘With it, you can change... well, let’s say you can change your appearance. In a sense, it is the key which allows you to unlock one of your birth-rights, transform into something called a ‘guardian form’. You won’t need it as you get older and master the transformation, but for now you’ll have to keep it on you at all times. There are strange things happening in Tokyo. Things that the police can’t deal with. Things that no h- no normal person can. You have a destiny; to fight against evil and defend humanity from whatever threatens it.’

Usagi barely heard her, still entranced by the beauty of the thing. After a moment, though, one word caught her ear. “Wait, transform? Like Sailor V?” Her eyes shone as she clasped her hands together, imagining herself fighting crime and saving the day like the masked heroine so often on the news. “Well why didn’t you say so before? Sign me up! What do I do to transform?”

Luna gave her a somewhat sceptical look, but then shrugged as only a cat can. ‘Hold it high in the air, and close your eyes,’ she explained. ‘Imagine yourself as a sacred warrior of the Moon, a guardian and protector of humanity. And say “Moon Prism Power, Make-up”, to trigger your transformation. But remember, it...’

Usagi had stopped listening, though, and leapt off the bed. Holding the brooch up dramatically, she envisioned a costume for herself – a crime-fighting costume for a heroine, a Sailor-suited warrior of Love and Justice like Sailor V! “Moon Prism Power,” she called out dramatically, “Make... up!”

It was like earthing a lightning bolt. Power crashed through her, a breath-taking force so great she could scarcely comprehend it. She felt it flood down her limbs, pool in her abdomen, envelop her in a tight embrace. For a brief instant that seemed far, far longer than it was, Usagi was totally and intimately aware of everything around her. She could _feel_ the surging tide of bright white magic wash through her veins, burning bruises, healing hurts, replacing her midnight weariness with a fresh and vibrant rush of vitality. She felt strong and energised; able to take on the world.

Staggering a little from the high, she took a deep breath and looked at herself in the mirror.

“... oh, _cool!_ ”

She was vaguely aware of Luna talking to her in the background, but she was too absorbed in admiring her reflection to listen. She turned this way and that, grinning gleefully and striking poses to show off her new outfit to best effect.

It bore some resemblance to her school uniform, adapted to look more like Sailor V’s costume. The basic costume was a white leotard, with a bow in the centre held in place by her beautiful new brooch. A short skirt came down to her mid-thigh, in royal blue, with a second bow at the base of her spine. Elbow length gloves and a pair of knee-high boots adorned her limbs, and the outfit was completed by bright red hair ornaments and a gold tiara that sat comfortably on her forehead. She winked at herself, delighting in the maturity the outfit gave her. The inch or so of added height from the low heels of her boots didn’t hurt, either.

“Evil beware!” she declared, wild and spontaneous creativity flooding through her somewhat-addled mind, “I’m the Pretty Soldier; Sailor Moon, come to punish you in the name of Love and...”

She stiffened suddenly, as knowledge entered her mind without bothering to go via her senses. It simply appeared in her head, a vision-sound-smell-taste-feeling that was akin to all five senses while still being none of them. But though the sensation itself was unfamiliar, what it was communicating wasn’t. Feelings of decay, darkness and danger were mixed into it, but above everything else it was a profound sense of fear for someone she knew.

“... Naru,” she breathed.

...

The apartment above the jewellery store was spacious and richly furnished. It was easily as nice a place to live as any house would be, especially for something in metropolitan Tokyo. There was just enough space in it for mother and daughter to cohabit comfortably, with a little left over besides. And when Mrs Osaka had to leave town on business, it was a simple enough thing to pay one of the store assistants a little extra to make sure her daughter got enough food and sleep while she was gone.

As Naru stumbled down the stairs, her own desperate breathing filling her ears, she really wished that this time her mum had just let her take care of herself. She awkwardly leapt one of the short flights of steps, crashing into the wall of the landing and pushing off it to run down the next.

Behind her, she could hear Sara pursuing her. Or rather the... the thing that looked like Sara. Because she knew the bright, bubbly girl who worked for her mum, and whatever the thing chasing her was, it was _not_ the real Sara.

‘Stupid child,’ hissed the monster as it clattered down the stairs behind her, skin flaking off its hands as it did so to reveal shrivelled brown hide beneath. ‘Come back here!’ An arm stretched out grotesquely, extending half a dozen metres to slam into the wall where Naru’s head had been a second earlier. The plaster of the stairwell wall splintered under the force of the impact, drawing a shriek from Naru. The Sara-thing snarled at the miss and wrenched its arm back out as it passed the new hole in the wall, all human semblance gone from its grasping claws tipped with iron nails

The Sara-monster was wearing heels, and so Naru had a few seconds lead by the time she reached the ground floor. Sobbing with fear, she dived sideways through the door into the showroom, barely avoiding another horribly extended lunge as she did. She forced herself to get up, keep moving, push herself to her feet and...

... and to run straight into a pair of waiting arms.

For a brief moment, she felt relief flood through her. A person! Someone who could help her! “Please,” she gasped, “there’s... a monster... please help me...”

But she trailed off as the arms tightened around her further, and she became aware of other people in the room. In the store, late in the evening, after closing hours. With slowly-mounting dread, she raised her eyes to the woman she had bumped into. Her gaze didn’t reach the woman’s face, though.

It was too busy focusing on the silver-and-pearl necklace hanging around her neck, pulsing with a dark-haloed sickly beat that seemed to suck at something warm and vital within her. A necklace Naru recognised. She shrieked, trying to wrench free, but the woman had her arms in a vice-like grip. “Help!” she screamed. “Help me, someone, please! He- mmph!”

A hand was slapped over her mouth, cutting off her cries for help, and she could feel two of the rings on it exerting that same stomach-lurching pull. Her eyes moved wildly as she was manhandled around. There had to be at least a couple of dozen people in the store. All of them wore jewellery she recognised. All of them were moving in the same limp, dull manner – like puppets guided by invisible strings.

And the puppet-master was stepping through the door to the stairwell even as now. It wasn’t even bothering to hurry anymore, not now that its thralls had her in their clutches. It didn’t look very much like Sara at all anymore. The disguise was flaking off around its ears and cheekbones with each step, like plaster from a water-logged wall. And with her caught and held at its mercy, it dropped the pretence altogether.

In the space of seconds, the thin veneer of Sara’s face flaked off entirely, like hundreds of scales being shed. Underneath it was shrivelled, wrinkled brown skin, like a corpse preserved in peat or tar, with a scar-like brand across its forehead. Its eyes were black, with feral yellow pupils, and its hair darkened to an iron grey even as she watched. Wide-eyed and fearful, Naru was too petrified to scream, or sob, or even move. The monster’s mouth stretched inhumanly wide, revealing sharp, off-coloured teeth. Its arm grew and stretched to at least twice its length to grab her by the throat in a clawed hand the size of a dinner place, and it lifted her into the air.

‘Did you think I was your friend?’ it gloated mockingly. ‘Or that you could get away by running? That anyone would help you? _Stupid_ little girl. Your heart’s strength is mine, and my master will reward me grandly for exceeding what I should have been able to obtain.’

Its mad grin widened even further and it began to chuckle quietly, then maniacally, evidently finding Naru’s feeble scrabbling at its fingers to be hilariously funny. Naru couldn’t say the same as the corpse-like digits tightened around her neck, and the horrible sense of warmth and vigour being ripped out of her resumed, far stronger than the drain from the jewellery. She could feel wet trickles running down her neck from where the nails had nicked her, but the blood felt ice-cold. The girl tried to scream, but all that came out was a faint gurgle. Robbed of strength, her arms fell limply to her sides, and tears beaded in her eyes. Was this the end?

And then, just as the world started to turn black, she heard the voice of an angel speak.

...

“Stop!” the voice rang out, and the sheer imperial force behind it was such that everyone who heard it obeyed. The monster dropped Naru involuntarily and spun, looking wildly around for the source of the command. But it was in vain. The clear female voice seemed to emanate from everywhere and nowhere. Though the speaker sounded young, something in its acoustics was like a hammer-blow to the unexpecting psyche.

“You can’t attack people in their homes like that, even if you are a monster!” It paused, for a breath’s length or so. “I am Sailor Moon! A-and I’m telling you to get away from her! Now!”

The monster sneered dismissively. Its head twisted around with a sickening creak of flesh and bone, until it was looking at the door directly behind it. ‘Sailor Moon?’ it scoffed. ‘I’ve never heard of you. Show yourself!’ It reached down again without looking back around, grabbing the limp form of Naru by the throat and beginning to lift her back up into the air to drain further. ‘Come on out, you loud-mouthed brat!’ it taunted, fingers tightening. ‘I promise I won’t hurt her if...’

It was interrupted by a spinning disk of pure white light flying in through one of the windows. It swung round in a perfect parabolic arc, and sliced clean through the monster’s arm above the elbow. The beast shrieked, and Naru was dropped again. The light-disk scythed back to the doorway where a sailor-suited warrior now stood. She caught it by reflex, where it reverted to a golden tiara that she returned to her forehead. For a long moment, as the severed arm collapsed into greyish dust, nobody reacted – all too stunned to do more than stare. In the silence, Naru began to hack and wheeze, gasping for breath.

Then the monster _howled_ in pain and fury, lurching round and gesturing with its one remaining arm. ‘Kill her!’ it screamed. ‘Rip her to pieces!’ It clutched at the stump of its arm. The injury had taken on the burnt grey colour of ash, and veins of colourlessness entwined around the stump.

The girl in question didn’t react to the order. Indeed, she didn’t even appear to hear it, still staring in shock and horror at the horrible wound her first attack had inflicted. “I... I’m sorry...” she stuttered, wide-eyed, “I didn’t mean... I didn’t know...”

‘Sailor Moon!’ yelled Luna from the windowsill. ‘It’s a monster! Move!’

The shout snapped her out of it just as the wave of bodies reached her, fists raised in preparation for mindless violence. She screamed and leapt awkwardly to one side, fell over, and began to desperately backpedal away from the advancing thralls. “I’m sorry!” she protested. “Please... just don’t listen to the monster! Don’t hurt me!”

Her eyes began to well up with tears, blurring her vision. The idea of using the light-disk-tiara on living humans painted horrifying images across her imagination. Something... something was very wrong! Humans wouldn’t listen to monsters like this, which meant they were probably being _mind-controlled_ like in some TV show! But she couldn’t use the disk on a human, so if she could just talk them out of it...

But her pleas fell on deaf ears as the dull-eyed women and men advanced. A hand grabbed at her wrist roughly, missing by a fingers-width. Another managed to latch onto her ankle like a vice as her backwards shuffle hit a wall, and began to drag her into the crowd. Her heart pounding with fear, Moon flinched away and threw her hands out as she cried out in anticipation of the pain.

Pain which didn’t come.

Cracking an eye open, Moon risked a quick glance in front of her. A soft white light was spilling out of her outstretched hands. The thralls keened in discomfort and flinched away from her shining barrier. She frowned, turning one of her palms on herself while keeping the other pointed at the monster’s hypnotised minions. The light didn’t hurt her. On the contrary, it felt cool, refreshing, like a bath in pure, fresh water. She could feel it now that she was paying attention to it; like a little stream running from some silvery wellspring of power inside her, down the veins of her arm, to spill out of her palm in the form of purifying light. It was, she realised, magic. _Her_ magic. For a long moment, she just stared at it, almost as stunned by this power as by the blazing disk her tiara had turned into.

‘Your magic can purify them!’ called Luna. ‘Break the youma’s control! It’s using the jewellery to control them!’

Moon looked up at the shout, just in time. With only one hand focused on them, the mob was beginning to overcome their reluctance to let the light touch them. Throwing both hands forward, Moon narrowed her eyes and forced the trickle of power flowing down her arms into a surging stream.

The white glow flooded out like daylight, and the horde hissed and squealed as it bathed them in silvery radiance. One by one, the ugly auras of the jewels that controlled them winked out, washed clean by the purifying magic. The thralls screamed and flailed before simply dropping where they stood, marionettes whose strings had been cut.

‘Useless fools!’ roared the monster, ignoring the fact that they were in no condition to hear it. ‘Very well, Moon-brat! I’ll kill you myself!’ It lashed out with a vicious blow that Sailor Moon barely rolled out of the way of, and she was barely on her feet before it was upon her.

She frantically dodged and ducked the youma’s claws, gasps and wails escaping each time a blow broke concrete close to her head. It was blindingly fast and strong; one claw-strike sent sparks flying as it cut a steel safety-deposit box in half. Its body bulged like clay as its arm extended to swipe at her whenever she dodged away, the nightmarish limb growing extra joints to better twist and claw at her.

A frantic open-palmed strike pushed another clawed slash away. It merely rotated its hand, and the fingers shot out to try and spear her. She threw herself out of the way, and water started gushing from the wall as the lethal iron nails punctured a pipe. The lack of one arm didn’t seem to be hindering it much, and it showed no pain or discomfort from the wound. Only her own speed saved her, the lightning reflexes that came from this new power. But even that advantage wasn’t entirely enough. It was landing glancing blows, not enough to break through her magical protection, but enough to sting as they struck. Moon didn’t know how much longer she could keep her dodging up at this rate.

And then, as she desperately leapt sideways out of the path of a scything blow, disaster struck. Her feet caught the outstretched arm of one of the limp bodies on the floor, and she went sprawling, sliding on the now-wet floor. Rolling over, she squeaked in fright as the monster loomed over her, its feral eyes glowing in the dark, its tall figure illuminated by the dim glow from the streetlights outside. It was... bulging, lopsided, as if half its bog-body was growing extra musculature.

‘Got you,’ it snarled triumphantly, and brought its clawed hand down.

And screamed again. A rose had punched clean through the wrist and pinned its hand to the wall. The window was open in the direction the projectile had come from, but there was nobody to be seen there. A voice spoke, deep and masculine and confident, as the youma dropped to its knees in pain, trying in vain to pull the rose out with its teeth.

“Sailor Moon! Strike now, and destroy the monster before it can harm any more innocents!”

“But...” Moon stuttered, climbing to her feet. “It’s hurt already, and shouldn’t I give it a chance to sur...”

‘Die!’

The youma’s scream cut Moon off in surprise as it surged up, wrenching its arm from the wall. Its arm was as immobile as stone below the point where the rose still stuck through it, but it ignored the paralysis, swinging the limb like a club to hit the girl full in the stomach. The force of the blow took her off her feet sending her flying. She crashed into the wall, shattering tiles under her and forcing all the breath from her lungs in a rush. Broken glass cascaded down on her from the window above, shattered from the wall-breaking force of the impact.

Moon tried to pull herself upright. She moaned, cradling her stomach and coughing up dust. “I... huh? I’m alive?” She sat up, winced, and curled into a ball again. “Hurts...” she croaked, and gulped down breath. “Hurst too much to... ow...” A few tears began to trickle from her eyes, tracing trails in the dust. A heavy sob shook her body, before she forced it down; crying only made it more painful.

Luna dropped down beside her, her eyes darting along Moon’s curled-up form. ‘You’re just winded, no real damage,’ she reassured her charge. ‘Now quickly, get up! You need to destroy the youma!’

“But...”

A loud crash caught her attention, and she looked up. The youma was fighting a new figure, tall and dressed in black. In fact, as Moon watched blearily, he was dressed in a tuxedo, with a flowing cape and a top hat. He was duelling with a long cane, which blurred through the air to parry the monster’s brutish attacks with an easy grace. Stepping back from a clawed slash, he riposted, the cane making a meaty ‘thwack’ as it severed an iron-nailed finger. And from the trail of open wounds running up the monster’s arm, he was systematically crippling its remaining limb.

As he turned slightly to deflect one an overhead swipe into a display of necklaces, sending sparkling fripperies flying, she caught a glimpse of his face in the silvery moonlight streaming through the windows. A half-mask concealed his features, leaving only his mouth and chin visible. That alone was enough for her to see that he was attractive, though.

‘Sailor Moon!’ hissed Luna, batting her in the leg insistently. ‘Now!’

“Oh... right!” Shakily standing up and wincing as the motion jarred her aching stomach again, Moon took a deep breath. “If you won’t surrender,” she snatched a breath, trying to steady herself, “... won’t surrender, you leave me with no choice!” she declared, reaching for her tiara. “Tiara Action!”

She hurled it, the golden ring becoming a blazing disk of light as it left her hand. The man stepped out of its way – somehow without seeing it at all – and it thrummed through the air towards the monster. Incredibly, though, the thing managed to throw itself out of the way, greying hair shorn from where it had been too slow. The locks disintegrated before they hit the ground, adding to the dust in the air, and the beast leapt through the clouds. The masked man once again blocked it, his cane leaving a gold-glowing welt across one eye.

The youma screamed mad, incoherent abuse at him, ignoring the pain and the loss of an eye. It tried to force itself past him, but snake-quick blows opened wounds all over its bog-body whenever it tried.

He ignored it. “Well done, Sailor Moon,” he called over his shoulder, and brought his cane up to block the youma’s arm, and severed its hand cleanly. Reaching out like a striking cobra, he grabbed it by the now-denuded wrist. “Behind you,” he whispered softly. It tried to wrench out of the hold, but was unable to break the vice-like grip as it turned to see what he was motioning towards.

It was just in time to see the tiara rebound off a pillar and arc back towards it. Once again it tried to dodge. But it was not to be. Trapped, crippled, blinded in one eye; it could not escape this time even as it writhed. It tried to duck around behind him, but the man’s polished dress shoe stamped hard on one foot, and it staggered back. At the last moment, the man let go and whirled away, leaving it defenceless and exposed.

There was a sound like the hiss of quenched metal, and then a susurrating thump as a mound of greyish sand was scattered across the floor.

Silence fell, broken only by the soft sounds of the city.

...

Moon caught the tiara and returned it to her forehead on pure reflex, almost without noticing. She stared at the largest streak of dust for a moment, lost in thought, and then turned gratefully to the masked man who had saved her.

Or rather, to where he had been standing. The room was empty, save for her, Luna, Naru – still coughing – and the unconscious bodies of the people the youma had controlled.

“Huh?” She looked around wildly. “Where’d he go? Hello? Mr Masked Tuxedo Person? Um... thank you for saving me!” There was no reply, and she pouted. “Hmph. No fair. He was cute; I was going to ask for- Naru!”

She scrambled across the floor to her prone friend, pulling her onto her lap and trying to remember how you administered first aid. It was... you had to get them on their side so they didn’t choke or something and... she wracked her thoughts, trying to remember what the school nurse had said. Luna padded over and licked at Naru’s cheek, then sniffed at her delicately.

‘Her energy has been drained,’ she said, ‘And her throat is hurt, but she’s not in any real danger from either of them. She could probably use a minor healing spell, though. All of them could, actually. You can probably cover the whole room in one spell if you stand near the middle.’

Moon nodded in understanding, gently laid Naru on the floor and stood, gingerly stepping around the bodies until she was roughly in the middle of them. In the quiet, she could hear the noises of night-time Tokyo outside, reminding her that there was a real world out there. Then she paused as something occurred to her.

“Um... Luna?”

‘Hmm?’ The cat was pawing at one of the pieces of jewellery, and seemed from what Moon could tell to be frowning slightly. ‘What is it?’

“... how do I do healing spells?” She gestured experimentally, as if waving her arms in the right way would make curative magic burst from her fingertips. “Abra Kadabra! Moon Healing Mojo! Get-Better-Now Power!”

Nothing happened, unless one counted Luna’s tail twitching slightly as she tried to restrain the urge to beat her head against the floor. Or possibly Moon’s head. That might be more therapeutic.

‘Concentrate on your desire to see them healed,’ she explained in tones of extreme patience. ‘You don’t need special words; your magic comes from the heart – from emotion and intention and willpower. Your magic specifically is very good at purifying, healing and creating – anything to do with light or life. Focus on how you want them to be better, and project it outward.’

Moon closed her eyes. They weren’t hard instructions to follow. All she had to do was picture Naru’s limp, unmoving form, and the need to help her welled up from within. She spread her hands unconsciously as she let it out, and a soft silver-white glow emanated from them. It was faint at first, but soon it was giving off enough light to illuminate the room. The moonlight rays fell softly on the prone forms that littered the floor, soaking into their bodies and soothing their spiritual wounds. It brushed the broken glass and shards of tiling, playing over the jagged holes and splintered supports of the walls, floor and display cases. The sickly aura of the room receded, and was replaced with a gentle feeling of peace and calm.

Luna watched with a critical eye. It wasn’t particularly impressive compared to some feats of magic she had seen, though the ease and purity of the light spoke well of the girl’s heart. The raw material was good, which was a blessing, because the girl on top of it... the word ‘ditzy’ hovered on the tip of Luna’s tongue, though she held back from voicing it. And that man... something about him had seemed familiar, though his appearance wasn’t akin to anything she’d seen before. Still, neither was Moon’s. The question was, was he friend or foe? His intervention had certainly been well-timed, but she had seen far too much to trust _that_ as a measure of a person’s intentions. Yet another thing to keep an eye on, she resolved. As if she didn’t have enough on her hands with the self-styled Sailor Moon.

Still. She had been impressed, when Moon had first seen the youma. She hadn’t broken down, or screamed, or even squeaked. Luna hadn't expected that from such an immature girl. She wasn’t sure what she _had_ been expecting, but bursting into tears and running away wouldn’t have surprised her much. But no, the girl had squared her jaw and stepped forward to save her friend, even though Luna knew for a fact she had been trying not to shake from fear.

The fight, too. On the surface, it hadn’t been terribly impressive, but... despite her wailing and crying, she’d kept getting back up to fight. And though her hesitance to hurt the youma had nearly got her killed, she was still young. Didn’t know what they really were – or what powers they might serve. If she could just install some grace and discipline in the girl, Luna could see the foundation of a true heroine in her new charge.

‘That’s enough, Moon,’ she prompted. ‘They’re as well as they’re going to get. A good night’s rest will restore their energy.’ She frowned, looking around the room at the dozens of bodies, and pawed the bracelet she had been examining. The spell was broken and almost completely dissipated, but the scent of the power was familiar. She had tasted that magic before, once. Not its source, no; that much was obvious. But there were subtle details, a precision in placement and a distinctive aggression to the draining spell that stirred long-forgotten memories. ‘I don’t like what that thing said about sending it to her master, though,’ she added. ‘Whoever he is, he got a lot of power tonight. We’ll have to be on watch to prevent this from happening again.’

The light faded, and Moon blinked. “Again?” She bit her lip. “I’m not sure I want to do this again... wait, do you think that masked tuxedo guy will show up next time if I do?” Her eyes lit up. “Oh! He was so cute! And _mysterious_... I wonder what he’s called?” She tilted her head. “Ah! I’ll call him Tuxedo Mask! And next time...” she adopted a determined expression and punched the air, “I’ll definitely get his mobile number! I swear it on the Moon!”

‘... that’s wonderful,’ deadpanned Luna. ‘Now why don’t you take your friend up to her room and help these people, and I’ll go find the girl that youma replaced?’ She sighed as Moon hurried off to obey, nearly tripping over another sleeping form in her haste to pick Naru up. If, and it wasn’t certain, the youma had killed the woman to steal her form – for there were some breeds which did – she didn’t want her young charge seeing it. They would have to move soon, because the noise of the fight might have had a passer-by call the police. A flash of silver drew her attention, as Moon squinted and created a light, nearly dropping the girl she carried from the brightness in the gloomy room.

Yes, there was definitely a treasure in there. But she had a long way to go before she uncovered it.

...


	4. Pretty Detective Usagi Investigates! There’s no Smoke without Fire!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Whims of Chance

The sun shone down on another day, banishing the rainclouds of the night before. Sadly, the day it was shining down upon was a school day, and so the light was forced to make its way into a dreary first-floor classroom to shine on students who should by all rights have been allowed outside to enjoy the finer weather while it lasted. Lessons had not yet started, and the students had a few more moments to talk before their teacher arrived. It was the end of the week, and so conversation was lively as the teenagers anticipated getting out and enjoying the weekend.

And with any luck, the weather would stay clear long enough for them to enjoy it properly.

“So Mum’s still in a vile mood, and there were workmen everywhere downstairs when I left in the morning,” Naru was saying. “I heard one of the insurance people start to question Mum about why all the security cameras failed. And the police don’t know who did it. Of course they don’t.” The girl snorted scornfully and squared her jaw. “And I’m sick and tired of having to tell people that I don’t really remember anything about the night.”

Usagi made a muffled sound from the comfort and security of her arms. It may have been meant to indicate assent, but came out more like an unintelligible grunt. She had tried to talk to Naru, but the other girl had clammed up about the events, saying she didn’t remember anything. And obviously Usagi couldn’t let her know about everything she knew, so it was very hard to start a conversation. And her normal chances for hanging out had been much-reduced by the way that her mother had not relented on her grounding. Luna had gone off to do something nearly a week ago, but not before levelling several dire and terrible threats at Usagi. Despite her absence, she had decreed, Sailor Moon _would_ be patrolling the city and looking for threats or youma activity, and _would not_ be giving away her secret identity in any way whatsoever.

Usagi was not keen to find out if she would actually follow through on her promised retribution if necessary, and so she had – with a fair amount of grumbling – gone on patrol. While having to hide the fact she was leaving the house while grounded from her mother. It had actually been fairly boring for the most part. Roof-hopping was fun, but there had been no attacks that she’d found. She did think she was losing weight from the exercise, though. There had been only one rather close call, where her mother had nearly caught her sneaking out, but she was fairly sure she had managed to talk her way out of that one with a hurried explanation that she had been leaning out of the window to shoo away a bird.

The late-night scouting trips had taken their toll on her sleep schedule, though. The energy boost from transforming – which still hadn’t gotten any less exhilarating – was something of a help in sloughing off weariness. But even the lingering magical charge couldn’t entirely do away with the need for rest, which was why she was currently trying to catch as much sleep as possible before maths class.

“Oh! And I heard that Sailor Moon was sighted again last night!”

The blonde head rose slightly from where it was cushioned, and emitted a somewhat more interested noise. Naru nodded eagerly, her sullen, edgy mood blown away like mist on a morning breeze. “It was only a quick shot on a rooftop, but it looks amazing!” The girl had become something of a fan of the new heroine after her rescue, and had been following her exploits religiously. Usagi found it... actually kind of flattering. And it meant she got to hear rumours of her sightings without having to answer questions from her dad about why she was suddenly interested in the newspaper, which was a big plus. She heard one of the other girls ask for a look, and Naru dived into her bag for a second, rooting around until she came out with a newspaper cutting. “Yeah, see? Here!”

The girls who had been listening to her clustered round to see, and the excited gasps and exclamations drew Usagi’s attention. Blinking wearily, she got up and shuffled over, innocently elbowing a couple of girls aside to get a better look. When she saw the picture next to a headline that read ‘New Sailor-Suited Vigilante’, though, the lingering tiredness dispersed rapidly. She sucked in a sharp breath.

The picture was obviously taken more by luck than skill; the camera had been at a misaligned angle when it was taken and it gave the distinct impression of having been cropped and blown up from a larger image. Nonetheless, though the building and city skyline in the background were grainy and distorted, the girl in the centre was crystal-clear. She was standing right on the edge of what seemed to be an office block, turned away from the camera with one leg slightly bent as she prepared to leap from her vantage point.

And she was outlined in stunning clarity. There was an air of vitality and dynamism to her that made it look as though she would leap off the page at any second. It seemed as though every thread of her long streamers of hair was detailed, every fold of her costume. Even if the rest of the picture hadn’t been grainy, it would have faded into the background around her.

Usagi whistled, impressed. She hadn’t realised she looked that good when she was transformed. Then she frowned. She was turned away from the camera, but... her hairstyle was distinctive. Very distinctive. She could see that it was her, clear as day. Had... had her secret identity been blown? Damn! She should have worn a mask... like Sailor V! Or something... she threw a worried glance at her friends and flinched, bracing herself for screams and admonishments.

None came. Usagi cracked an eye open and looked around, confused. Were... were they all _okay_ with her being Sailor Moon? They weren’t even reacting!

“Uh... you guys aren’t... mad?” she asked tentatively. Several confused looks were turned her way.

“Mad about what?” asked Naru, puzzled. “Heck, I think it’s cool! Our city has its own Sailor Warrior now! Just like Sailor V! I bet she’s busy fighting all kinds of evil,” she added, with iron-hard certainty, “and if it’s not making the papers... well, that’s just a sign of how good she is!”

“Heh... yeah, well, I don’t like to...” Usagi preened for a second, before realisation struck like a bolt from the blue. “Wait, do you mean you _don’t_ know... ah... know who she is?”

Her friends were staring at her now, in equal parts confusion and interest. “Uh... no?” Naru said, as if explaining something to a very small child. “You mean to say that you _do?_ Who is it? How?”

“Ah... uh... I... um...” Usagi’s eyes widened as she realised how close she was to blowing her cover herself. “I... just thought that... uh... since she saved you and all, and carried you upstairs, you might have noticed something about her that gave you a clue as to who she was! That’s all.” And please, please, please, she prayed, let the universe be kind enough that if Naru did work it out from that, she wouldn’t say anything, at least not immediately.

Luckily, she was saved from having to having to answer any pointed questions by the arrival of their homeroom teacher, Haruna-sensei, which distracted most of the girls around her. Naru wasn’t quite as put off, and gave Usagi a hard look, but even she ceded to confusion and interest in their teacher’s state.

It was an unusual entrance for a normally upbeat woman. Muttering furiously, she flung the door open with a bang and stalked over to her desk. A rather severely dented thermos was slammed down along with her bag, and she all but threw herself into her seat, scowling furiously. Choosing caution over valour, the class huddled in their seats and tried not to do anything that would set her off. Haruna was generally a cheerful woman, but her temper – as Usagi could attest – was legendary. And she was currently showing all the signs of being at a simmering boil.

But no explosion came. After a few seconds of sitting there, the muttering tailed off and she slumped slightly. Her eyes wandered over to the large dent in what had probably contained her morning coffee before something had bashed the side in, and her lip trembled slightly.

Usagi recalled that Haruna had been excited earlier in the week about a second date with a cute guy. From the quiet murmurs spreading around the classroom, she wasn't the only one putting two and two together. Eventually, Naru was the one to tentatively raise a hand.

“Ah... Haruna-sensei? Did... um...” Bleak, dead eyes focused on her and she gulped nervously before continuing in a very small voice. “Did your date not go very well?”

And that seemed to break whatever mental dam remained. Haruna growled angrily and stood, slamming her chair back as she gestured dramatically at the ceiling.

“Men are pigs!” she declared angrily, and brought her hand down in a swooping motion that covered the male portion of the class. “You boys! Let me tell you something! If you ever treat a girl badly on a date, Justice will not forgive you! If you make crude suggestions to her, act like a common lout instead of a charming prince and then blow her off to go spend time at some stupid new gambling parlour... and... and drinking with your friends, and then say that she’s shrill or prude, the vengeance on heaven will descend upon you!”

There was a general murmur of assent from the schoolboys, who wisely chose not to comment on the rather specific nature of the example. Usagi eyed the dent in the thermos and winced, imagining the form that the vengeance of heaven had presumably taken.

But there was something still niggling at her, a detail that seemed odd. Haruna’s judgement in the past had been a bit... strange, when it came to dating, that was true. Having her as a homeroom teacher had been an education in its own right. But still, she had been _sure_ that this latest man was wonderful, gushing about how sweet and kind he had been on their first outing. Usagi had remembered it rather well, since it had taken place in the middle of an English class and gone on for long enough that she hadn’t been forced to try and stumble her way through reading out a passage from the textbook. But what could cause such a sudden change in temperament? Maybe her mum had been right, and gambling really _was_ evil?

Usagi’s eyes narrowed slightly, and she resolved to look into this. It could be nothing, but if something was ruining dates and turning cute guys into jerks? That could _not_ be allowed to stand.

...

The crackle of a pocket radio drowned out the faint pounding of the rain outside, accompanied the scratching of a pencil as Usagi did her homework and listened with half an ear. And when she got bored, she started flipping channels to try to find something interesting, before she hastily got back to work. She was permitted to have a radio on when she worked, as long as she was working when she was checked on. She really wanted to turn her computer on, but her mother had declared that if she did that before her homework was done, her punishment would be swift and terrible.

“... _ksshhrrt_... further news, Adrasteian Industries have announced that they will be showcasing their latest advanced prosthetic limb technology in... _ksshhrrt_... new late-night program, coming soon, which I’m personally looking forward to hearing! Now, over to... _ksshhrrt_... no matter how far apart we are,/We are together in my heart... _ksshhrrt_... another night of rioting in the Roppongi district has left the police hard-pressed to... _ksshhrrt_...”

Usagi hastily stopped her bored flipping through radio channels and backpedalled to the one she had just skipped over. Rioting? She hadn’t heard anything about rioting. Though... she had been a bit snowed under lately, with patrol cutting into her free time. And she was still grounded. And she hadn’t been out that way much, because it was _far_ away. Dutifully sliding her homework to one side in the name of Justice, she listened more intently.

“ _... concerned that the public disorder might be spreading, with multiple reports of attacks on police officers outside Roppongi. On the streets, rioters have been setting cars alight and engaging in looting of shops. Firefighting crews are having to work under police escort as they try to bring fires started by arsonists under control. Public officials have called for all citizens to keep off the streets, and report violent behaviour immediately. Inspector Saito Koizumi-san had the following to say; ‘In no uncertain terms, we call for an end to the deplorable violence among a small minority of the population. This violence is entirely senseless and without good reason, and should be condemned in the strongest possible terms. We will be bringing the full force of the law against guilty parties, and are already engaged in gathering evidence against all and any suspects.’ However, despite multiple such statements, tonight looks to be an even worse night than yesterday, with the hope that the poor weather would keep people indoors looking..._ ”

‘So you’ve noticed it too. Good.’

“Gah!” Usagi jerked violently in surprise, twisted round to see where the voice had come from, overbalanced and tipped over backwards. A loud thump carried through the floorboards as both chair and girl hit the floor, and downstairs in the kitchen, Ikuko sighed.

“Usagi!” she called up the stairs. “I told you not to jump around your room like that! Are you hurt?”

Wincing, rubbing the back of her head and throwing a dirty glare at the black shape on the windowsill – and how did she keep opening the window anyway? – Usagi cracked the door open and called back down. “I’m fine, mama! Just... uh... fell off my chair.”

She could almost hear the exasperated eyeroll as her mother returned to her work with a parting comment of “Try not to put yourself in hospital, sweetheart.” Flushing, Usagi retreated back into her room, closed and locked the door carefully, and then rounded on Luna.

“Don’t _do_ that!” she snapped. “You scared me half to... wait. Wow, what happened to you?”

The drenched cat on her window sill glared at her, and jerked her head back at the rainstorm hammering the ground outside. ‘What do you think?’ she asked irritably. ‘Now if you want to make yourself useful, get me something warm and dry. Like a towel.’

A few minutes later, with Luna reduced to a wet little black head poking out of a bundle of blankets next to the radiator, Usagi squatted down next to her and cocked her head. “So,” she asked curiously. “Where were you, anyway?”

A crimson eye cracked open. ‘Away. On cat business.’

“... cat business?” Usagi blinked, now even more confused. “What’s...”

‘Business.’ Luna interrupted her, opening her eyes fully. ‘Which is for me to know about, and for you not to worry about. Now, what are you going to do about those youma attacks?’

“... huh? What youma attacks?” Usagi’s eyes widened. “I’ve been patrolling! Honest! You don’t have to...”

‘I know you’ve been patrolling, Usagi-chan,’ sighed Luna, and ignored the girl as she mouthed something that looked suspiciously like “oh yeah, psychic” to herself. That was not a fight Luna was prepared to have while this wet and this cold. ‘I mean whatever youma is causing those riots.’

Usagi blinked again, her hands coming up in a ‘wait, wait’ gesture. “Wait,” she said in confused tones. “Wait. I thought youma _drained_ energy? That’s what you said! You said they stole energy and made people sick and... and collapse and things like that! Rioters are breaking the law, not being ill!”

Luna shook her head, staring up at the girl with those deep red eyes. ‘No,’ she corrected, ‘no, they can affect behaviour as well. And emotions are as much a form of energy as raw life force. Widespread rioting like this... the youma responsible must be altering their behaviour and then collecting the anger and aggression they generate. You need to stop them!’

“How, though?” Usagi spread her hands helplessly. “I don’t know where they are! Last time I could tell Naru was in danger, but this isn’t threatening anyone I know!”

Luna’s tail twitched, and she nodded. ‘I know. That’s part of what I was gone for. I was getting you something.’

The girl’s mood underwent a rapid turnaround, and she bounced back onto her bed. “Another present? Yay! Is it as pretty as my brooch? What is it? Will I be able to take it into school with me, too? What about...”

She trailed off as she caught sight of Luna’s expression. “Ah heh... maybe I’ll just be quiet now and let you do the weird summoning thing for it.”

‘How very kind of you,’ Luna responded, more than a little sarcastically. She shook her way free from the bundle of towels, her fur mostly dry now, and leapt up onto the bed. Pacing around for a few seconds to find a comfortable spot, she settled down and curled up as she had done the last time. Her fur rippled, a glossy sheen passing over it like polished jet or obsidian, the moon on her forehead a crescent of burnished gold.

And then she was merely a cat again, with something gleaming amidst the velvet fur. She stretched out, kicking it away from her gently, and then returned to her curled-up ball, purring softly. Usagi idly stroked her, missing the surprised look and louder purring she got in return, as she examined what Luna had brought for her.

It was a pen. Or looked roughly like one, anyway. It was a little thicker than most pens she had seen, though not unduly so, and was made of some sort of pink material that felt smooth and cool to the touch, though she was pretty sure it wasn’t metal. Twisting what appeared to be a cap, she found an ornate quill, like those fancy fountain pens she’d seen given as presents occasionally. The other end bore a faceted red jewel that neatly capped it.

She replaced the cap and twirled it in her fingers experimentally. “So... it’s a pen,” she observed. “Um. Thank you? What’s it... actually do?”

Luna rolled her eyes. ‘It’s not just a pen,’ she corrected. ‘I wouldn’t go to all that trouble for just a pen. No, this is something much more advanced – and much more useful to your cause, and current problem. It's a...’ She hesitated, reviewing what she was about to say and what the chances were of Usagi understanding it. ‘... it works by sheathing your... hmm. It draws upon the grand coll... uh. It...’

The cat paused, sighed, and gave up. ‘It's a magic wand which will disguise you,’ she explained. ‘It looks like a pen because the... so people don't suspect it. It should help you investigate. Activate it while picturing a false identity in your head, and it will disguise you as whatever you’re imagining.’ She paused. ‘Well, within reason. But most real jobs will be fine. It’ll even give you a basic competence in whatever it is for as long as you’re transformed – enough to play the part convincingly.’

“Oooo...” Usagi turned it over in her hands, examining the pretty jewel on the end. “Does it work as an actual pen, too? Does it have special powers when you write with it? Only I think I lost mine at school today, and...”

‘Usagi! Focus! And... yes, it works as a real pen. But it... doesn’t have any special powers like that, no.’ She gave a feline cough, and moved on hurriedly. ‘Now, to activate it, say “Moon Power”, and then what you want it to make you into.’

The blonde threw her a cheerful salute. “Aye aye, Captain Kitty!” she acknowledged. “Hmm. For investigating evil deeds... I should be a detective!” Twirling the pen between her fingers, she held it aloft and called out, “Moon Power! Make me a...”

‘Usagi.’

The girl stumbled over the final words of the incantation, and turned a quizzical and slightly annoyed look on Luna. “ _Now_ what?” she complained.

The cat stared up at her with a flat, sardonic air. ‘It might be an idea to leave the house _before_ turning into a complete stranger your mother won’t recognise.’

“... oh. Uh... ah... eh heh heh...” Usagi grinned sheepishly. “Whoops? But... I’m still grounded. How do I get out?”

Luna rolled her eyes fondly. ‘Same way you’ve been getting out for your patrols. Wait an hour or two for it to get dark and then leave through your window as Sailor Moon. And don't forget something waterproof. It's tipping it down out there. I can tell you. Accursed Ea... accursed weather.’

...

And so it was that an hour and a half later, a pretty young detective in a waterproof coat and hat strolled along under the light of the streetlamps. She was talking quietly to the cat that sat in her shoulder-bag, the rain pattering down on the covering.

“So I can’t use it to transform when I’m already Sailor Moon because... it’s like I’m already disguised?”

‘Yes, simply put. It’s the same mechanism, just a lot stronger. While you’re Sailor Moon, people can only see you as that identity. They literally can’t make the connection between Sailor Moon and Usagi Tsukino – it just doesn’t occur to them, any more than it would occur to them to think that Sailor Moon was really the Prime Minister in disguise.’

Usagi made a face at that, and Luna chuckled softly before continuing. ‘The only way to break the protection is for them to see you transforming. Or for you to tell them yourself, which is why you need to keep it a secret.’

“...” said Usagi to that, guiltily remembering how close she had come to spilling the beans that morning in school. “Urk. Heh. Yeah, I’d... ah... better be really careful. Not to let anything slip accidentally. I really wouldn’t want to do that.”

Luna shot her a mildly suspicious look, but decided that it probably wasn’t worth worrying about if Usagi wasn’t actually panicking over it. ‘Right now, you’d do better being careful about those rioters. Where are you going, anyway? Do you even have a plan worked out?’

“I’m heading towards Roppongi,” answered the young woman distractedly, pausing to admire her reflection in the glass panel of a phone booth. She looked to be in her early twenties, dressed in a casual suit under the raincoat. Her hair, in a short bob cut, peeped out from under her hat – just like the detectives in the old films she’d seen. And it was doing a really good job keeping her dry, too. “Hmm. I wonder if this is what I’ll actually look like when I’m this old for real?” She flicked her fringe out of her face, winked at her reflection, and moved off again. “Anyway, I’m going for sweet and simple at first. Find a group of the rioters and follow them for a while. Without anything more to go on, information is the best thing to go for. Maybe... like... the youma has to go from person to person to collect their energy, and so if it comes for them, I can ambush it!”

She paused reflectively for a moment, considering. “Hmm. Maybe if that doesn’t work, I’ll try transforming into a pretty punk rocker and trying to talk to them. But that’s not my plan A, since... violent rioters.”

‘...’ Luna stared at her. ‘That’s... a good plan. A very good plan,’ she said in shock. Then her eyes narrowed. ‘Wait, are you sure you’re still Usagi? Even the knowledge that comes with the transformation shouldn’t make for that large a change.’

“Hey!” Usagi pouted at her. “What’s that supposed to mean? And this was my plan before I transformed, I’ll have you know! Is it so hard to...” She trailed off as Luna raised a paw, her ears twitching. She turned her head to the side, eyes fluttering closed, and scented the air delicately. After a moment’s concentration, she spoke.

‘Well, whether it’s really your plan or not,’ she said, ‘you’re about to get a chance to try it. There’s a group coming. Loud voices. Smashing glass. Probably rioters.’

“Ha!” hissed Usagi triumphantly. “We have good luck, see? Can you tell how many of them there are?”

‘What do I look like, a dog? I can’t smell that kind of detail, especially through the rain!’ hissed Luna right back. Nevertheless, she closed her eyes again, ears twitching intently. ‘I think... there are at least four or five different voices. Probably not many more than that. They’re getting closer, hide. Now!’

Usagi was already moving to obey. She could hear the approaching group as well now, the drunken shouts and occasional sound of smashing glass. She hurried over to someone’s front gate, where a break in the thick hedge that walled off the tiny front garden gave her a nice shadowy alcove to hide in. Pulling her coat collar up over her face, she peeked out as the source of the sounds came onto the junction with the street she was on.

There were half a dozen of them. They looked like office workers, from what she could see –certainly, three or four of them were wearing suits that were somewhat the worse for wear, and one had a tie around his head as some kind of headband. Another was carrying a crowbar, and seemed intent on smashing the windows of every car he passed, egged on by his laughing comrades. Usagi winced as he drove it through the front screen of a Honda, setting off the car’s squealing alarms, and swaggered onwards. Nobody was coming out to stop them, though she suspected there were probably a few discreet phone calls to the police being made from inside the locked houses.

She slunk out of the shadows as they passed, ghosting along with quiet, wary steps to the corner as they continued down the road. She didn’t think it was likely that anyone could hear her in this rain, but there was no such thing as being too cautious when there were groups of men – who were affected by evil youma magic! – with crowbars around. There weren’t many other people nearby, what with the weather and the warnings on the news, so following them on the same street wasn’t an option.

Nodding to herself, she turned on her heel and made for the next street across from theirs, running parallel to their course. She wondered, as she did so, exactly where all these ideas were coming from. Luna had said that the disguise would give her a basic competence in the skills that the disguise should have, but... it was _weird_ , experiencing it. Like she was drying her hair, or following the route to school, an instinctive knowledge so familiar that it was barely even conscious any more.

The hoodlums weren’t moving too fast. She felt a little bad thinking of them that way, since at least half of them were probably law-abiding citizens when not under a youma’s influence, but it was a pretty good description of their behaviour. She could only imagine that the fact they hadn’t been picked up by the police yet must be due to how many other gangs of youma-thralls were on the streets tonight. And this close, she could tell that they definitely were under the power of some dark magic. She could _feel_ it in each of them, like a wriggling worm at their breast, fangs fastened leech-like onto their heart. It was disgusting even from a street away, and a convulsive shudder went through her as she imagined actually having one _attached_.

It was at this point, after about five minutes of following them, that Usagi noticed something. Not about her targets, who were still blissfully unaware of the shadow dogging their footsteps from a street away, catching glimpses and glances of them through junctions and keeping track of them easily by the noise they were making. No, she noticed something about herself.

She was wearing heels.

In and of itself, that wasn’t too surprising. She had asked the Disguise Pen to turn her into a _pretty_ young detective, after all, and a nice attractive set of short heels worked nicely with that. No, the surprise was that she had been walking for at least half an hour since she left home in them, and she was still upright. Usagi was normally barely capable of walking in inch-high heel-platforms, but these were at least three inches, and she was moving just fine. Her face lit up in triumph, and she cheered in...

“...!”

... and she _very carefully stifled_ the cheer that would have alerted her quarry to her presence, as well as a scream from the bolt of panic that had shot through her like a lightning bolt. And then a second scream from the fact she had just stepped in a puddle and her feet were soaked. Trembling slightly, she leaned against a wall to let her racing heart calm down a bit. That had been a scarier moment than she was willing to admit. Beside her, Luna seemed to think so as well, as her fur slowly settled from where it had briefly stood on end, and her tail relaxed from its rigid line. She quietly retracted her claws before Usagi looked down, and was casually licking a paw by the time she did.

“Luna!” murmured Usagi in hushed delight. “Look at me! I’m walking! In heels!”

‘Yes yes,’ agreed Luna, not unkindly. She could see that it was a big thing for the girl, and empathised a bit with the clear delight she was radiating. It was hard not to, she was all but glowing. ‘It’s something that humans would believe a person like the one you’re disguised as could do, I would imagine. Do it long enough and it might carry over to your untransformed form. But for now, they’re pulling away, so maybe we should move on?’

“Right, yeah. Sorry.” Usagi stood again and moved off, this time paying attention to how she was moving, how she was walking. Maybe if she concentrated really hard on how she was balancing _now_ , it would give her some understanding in how to balance when she was normal. It sounded like it should work, and she focused on the easy rhythm she had been moving with only a moment before.

It didn’t come. Too late, Usagi remembered the way that some things were only effortless as long as you weren’t concentrating on them. The thought came just as she stepped on an inopportune rain-slick pavement slab, and from there it was an achingly long journey downwards past a couple of bins waiting for the rubbish collection the next morning, with her limbs flailing wildly to find some kind of purchase.

She found purchase alright. Unfortunately, her grip on the bins only served to pull them down with her, a great clatter rising as they hit the ground in a heap. Her purse and Luna went flying – the cat voicing her protest as she and the bag landed in a puddle – and a heel broke off her left shoe. Struggling to her feet, pulling the now-useless footwear off and throwing them to one side, Usagi froze, hoping against hope that they would write it off as something innocent...

“Hey, what was that?”

“Came from over there!”

Usagi didn’t wait for any more. She turned and ran.

...

It was dark. It was cold. It was wet. She was tired. She was scared. Her feet stung and ached from the abuse she was putting them through, and her tights were torn and soaked. She had lost her hat. Angry shouts and sounds of pursuit echoed behind her, and the biting shrill of the wind whistled in her ears.

Eyes wide, breathing harsh, she ignored it all and ran. And if there was one thing Usagi Tsukino could do, it was run. Anyone who had seen her on a schoolday morning could attest to that. Her bare feet pounded the pavement as she fled like a terrified gazelle, turning down side-streets at random, keeping to the smoothest pavements she could see.

The shouts grew further and further behind, and eventually she ducked behind a car, cradling her stinging feet. A few tears slipped out, invisible against the rain streaming down her face, but she bit her lip remorselessly. She was too terrified to even think about screaming. Luna had disappeared at some point – left behind by her rapid flight. She couldn’t bring herself to worry about it. She had to hide, she had to get away. She had to do something about her feet, too, because she couldn’t escape if she was hobbling. Digging the Disguise Pen out of her pocket, she held it tight and whispered to it.

“Turn me back.”

A faint wash of cool air skimmed over her, and she shrunk back down into her teenage self, still dressed in her school uniform. Shoes, thankfully, included. She peeked out from behind the car, carefully. Hopefully, she had lost them, she couldn’t see anyone...

“Hey!”

The shout had come from behind her, but she recognised the voice. Without even bothering to turn around, Usagi launched herself back into a flat-out sprint, turning the fear and terror into raw adrenaline. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she realised that they couldn’t have recognised her, she looked different like this... but it was too late. She was already running now, and they were giving chase. She couldn’t stop and turn into Sailor Moon, not where they might see her. She would have to do this the hard way.

After a nearly a minute of running, she was just about beginning to flag, when salvation beckoned. She darted left and made for an ill-lit path that wound around a wooded hill. The men came around the corner a few seconds after her, screaming hoarse threats at the fleeing figure, and pelted off down the shadowy road after their quarry.

Or at least one of them did. The other one paused, clutching his knees and gasping for breath. The rain was getting heavier, and the fall of droplets filled the air as it beat down upon leaves and stone like. In the street lights, the man’s breath steamed.

No.

That wasn’t steam. Thin white columns of smoke crept out of his nostrils, joined moments later by a thicker cloud from his mouth. It was almost as if he had an unseen cigarette, but the smoke was too thick for that, and it did not dissipate in the wind. It flowed to the left, and then to the right, ignoring the beating rain and the hacking coughs of the man – of its host. In the street lights, the cohesive smoke almost looked like a face.

It hissed, the hiss of a deodorant can thrown onto a fire, promising violence. The man stumbled forwards, limbs moving all wrong. His head and his torso led; his legs followed, desperately trying to keep a grip on the ground. It was almost like... like if someone had tripped him, his legs would have been dragged behind, as he was drawn on by his chest, by the smoke. He was drawn to a small hokora which stood by the street light, the water running down the hill past it in gushing rivulets.

There was a second hiss, and the passage of the smoke was stopped, like fog against unseen glass. For a moment, it curled and coiled against the flat pane, billowing out angrily as if trying to seek a way through.

And then it was inhaled again, a gasping shudder that left the man flat on the ground. Coughing – the sound somehow more healthy this time, rather than the desperate hack it had been before – the man pulled himself to his feet, and blinked heavily. His tie-headband had slipped back down around his neck, and his bald patch was a crop circle which shone with sweat and rainwater in the orange light of the streetlamps. Without a second look, he turned on his heel, and headed directly away from the shrine.

A moment or two passed. Then the bushes rustled, and a teenage girl rolled out of them and pulled herself to her feet.

Usagi coughed, pushing sodden hair away from her face. “That... that was...” She gulped, “ _way_ too close. That... there was...” A distant yell and another smashing sound punctuated the pounding rain, and she flinched. “And... uh... I really don’t wanna be here if they come back.”

She looked around for somewhere better to hide than the bushes, and remembered the noticeable absence of her cat. “Uh... Luna? Luna?” She tried to call out her partner’s name while simultaneously keeping her voice as quiet as possible, resulting in a loud whisper. A soft thud from behind her sent her spinning round, arms raised protectively, heart thudding in fear.

A small black shape paced delicately out of the shadow of a streetlamp.

‘Here,’ said Luna quietly. ‘And keep quiet. Those two were the only ones to keep up, but the others were following you too.’ Another yell came from the direction they had come from, proving her point. ‘I, of course, just followed those two idiots without them noticing,’ sniffed the cat. ‘Which wasn’t difficult. Your talents at staying undetected, however, need work. Now, you should find someplace to hide until they get bored and leave the area. Other than the bush.’

Still breathing too hard to speak easily, Usagi nodded distractedly. “Luna...” she began, “Luna... there’s... there’s smoke living inside them. It’s... I felt something was wrong, but... that. It. It has to be stopped! It’s _wrong_ ” Impulsively, she knelt down and gave the soaked cat a quick, relieved hug. She’d been scared for a moment that she’d lost her snarky feline friend, and... no, she wasn’t afraid to tell anyone how the sight of the man flailing and pulled along by the smoke he had breathed out had scared her.

‘I know,’ Luna said, enduring the hug. She sniffed at the air. Iron... yes, iron, so very strong. A bad scent. But there was something else. No, several somethings. Several somethings she couldn’t separate, and which bore investigation. And at the moment, her ward was in no state to continue investigations. ‘Come on, you need to find somewhere hidden. And out of the rain, if at all possible.’

Usagi nodded again, and began to look around for a hiding place. Spying a long set of stairs topped by a shrine gate, she checked the opening times on the sign at the foot of the steps and... yes, a quick check of her watch told her it should still be open, just about. And... hey, shrines were holy ground, right? If a minor shrine like that had been able to stop the smoke up close, then a proper one... well, they might not go up there at all! Even if they didn’t care about that, it was a _long_ set of stairs. Normally she’d balk at that, but in this situation, any reason for the thugs not to go up there was a good enough one for her to do so as fast as possible.

Pausing only to hastily scrub some of the dirt and leaves off her dress, Usagi bolted up the wide stone steps. Soon, she was lost in the shadows that clung to the hill, a dark shape amidst the evening murk that slipped under the torii and into the shrine proper.

The legend on the white wooden gate was just barely visible in the low light of the moon and stars.

Hikawa Shrine.

...


	5. A Lucky Break! Usagi Stumbles Onto a Lead!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Whims of Chance

‘Remember, if they ask, just say that you ran into a group of the rioters on your way home from a school club and ran away. Don’t say anything about having come out looking for- whoa!’

As Luna crossed the boundary of the shrine and set her paw down at the foot of the long stone stairway, all of her fur fluffed out for an instant as if she’d had an electric shock. Her tail shot up, rigid, and her ears perked up to their most alert position.

“Luna? What? What is it?”

‘Something...’ Luna was already looking around as her fur settled down again, her nose twitching as she scented the air. ‘Yes, there are definitely spirits living here. More powerful ones than I had suspected. I wonder who...’ She glanced up at Usagi, feline eyes narrowed. ‘I need to go and check this out. I’ll meet you back here when I’m done. Rest yourself, get warm and dry, and calm down from your fright. Is that alright? Relax a little until I’m finished, and then we can go home afterwards and try a different way tomorrow evening.’ The cat paused, considering. ‘And don’t do anything unwise while I’m gone,’ she added, somewhat snippishly.

Usagi personally felt that was a little mean, but refrained from commenting as the lithe black shape vanished into the undergrowth. Looking up at the long, _long_ flight of steps up to the shrine, she heaved a put-upon sigh and began to climb, blinking the rain out of her eyes. She was shivering slightly, her uniform soaked through, and she had to admit that it would be nice to get inside and into the warm. She just hoped that whoever was in charge of the shrine was friendly.

The climb was steep, but she reached the top without too much difficulty. Lit by the sodium glow of the city lights below, the old shrine was a cluster of beautiful buildings in the traditional style. It was probably amazing to look at when it wasn’t late at night and pouring with rain. Even through the downpour, a sense of peace lay over the place, empty of visitors at the moment. Usagi stepped through the archway at the entrance, and the distant noises of the city seemed to quieten slightly, as if muted. She took several deep, calming breaths, hoping with all her heart that the smoke-monster-things wouldn’t dare follow her up here.

The peaceful scene didn’t mean much to someone who was cold, wet and still shaking from fear, though. Hugging herself, teeth chattering, Usagi edged under the shelter of the broad, curving roof of the nearest building. Her clothes were still soaked, though, and she was going to have a job and a half getting back home like this, doubly so explaining why her school uniform was soaked through. Maybe... maybe she should just transform into Sailor Moon and go home? Luna was right, they could try and investigate some more tomorrow, and...

Her thoughts were abruptly interrupted by a voice. It was a loud, raucous voice that broke through the murmuring susurration of the rain with bawdy, jovial tones. If voices could wear clothes, this one would have been sporting some sort of gag item out of a joke shop. It brought to mind the sort of person who found whoopee cushions and balloons down the shirt to be hilarious. Usagi was fairly sure she could actually hear it ogling her, and she was made more than a little aware of the fact that her school uniform’s top was white. And wet. And clinging.

“Why, hello there, sweetheart!” the voice said.

Usagi turned to find a goblin waving at her. At least, it looked like a goblin. Surely, no human could leer like that, could they? But no, as the figure came closer, sheltered as she was under the wide roof of the shrine, it became apparent that it was, in fact, a very short, very bald and very old man with bushy eyebrows and more wrinkles than she could count, dressed in the white robes of a Shinto priest and grinning at her widely. Her arms went protectively to cover her chest.

“Good evening!” he greeted her, far more boisterously than she would have expected someone his age to be capable of this late at night. Come to think of it, he was moving a fair clip faster as well. “And what’s a pretty young girl like you doing...” He stopped and blinked at her, taking in the wide, frightened eyes, the drenched state of her uniform and the mud and leaves that stained it.

The man’s wide grin faded, and Usagi felt a small kernel of surprise through the general shock from everything that had happened to her so far at how much more serious it made him look. He wasn’t quite wise-looking – nothing with those eyebrows could look wise – but it was certainly a far cry from the dirty old goblin he’d looked like a moment ago.

“Ah,” he said, his voice more level, and frowned. “Are you alright, young lady? You can come inside if you wish.” He slid one of the doors open and beckoned the shivering girl inside. It was warmer inside the shrine, and Usagi went through the motions of taking her shoes off and huddling down over a tiled patch of floor on autopilot, vaguely aware of the old man talking soothingly too her.

“You’re not hurt... hmm, no, it doesn’t seem so. Good good. Do you want a blanket? I think we have a few somewhere around here... and then you can tell me what you were doing out here this late, and in this kind of weather. It’s not safe on the streets at the moment, you know. We’ll get you warmed up, and... and would you like me to give your parents a ring to let them know you’re safe?”

Urk. A pang of panic shot through Usagi’s gut as he bustled off to get her a blanket. Her parents... were going to kill her. Looking at her uniform in the light, it was muddy, drenched and torn in a couple of places, with leaves and twigs still sticking out of it. There was no way she was going to be able to hide this from her mother.

Drat! And she was still under curfew! She couldn’t even explain why she’d really been out... she needed an excuse, fast. Some reason she’d been all the way out at a shrine in... where was she, anyway? The sign had said... Hikawa.

Hikawa Shrine. Why did that seem familiar?

Wait, _Hikawa!_ Now she remembered! This was the shrine she’d heard gossip about, the one with the really effective talismans and fortune-telling. She wracked her memory... wasn’t there supposed to be a priest with the second sight here? Or was it a shrine maiden? Regardless, maybe...

... ah ha, yes! She could say that she had been intending to get a talisman for good luck on the upcoming test! Mama would still shout at her... Usagi winced slightly at how _much_ shouting she would be in for once her mother had reassured herself that her baby girl hadn’t been hurt – but saying that she’d been doing something to improve her marks, even if it was sort of not exactly quite according to the rules, might get her off _too_ bad a punishment. Especially if it worked! And hey, she might as well make it reality and really get one while she was here! It might make her ace that test after all!

The old priest came back in with a thick blanket that smelt musty enough that Usagi suspected he’d dug it out of a cupboard somewhere, and wrapped it around her shoulders. She nodded to him in thanks, her teeth chattering in earnest now that she was beginning to warm up.

“Th-thank-k y-you,” she managed to get out. “I... r-ran into some of th... the r-rioters. On my way here. Had t-to hide in a bush.”

A bushy eyebrow – the only patches of hair on the old man’s bald skull – quirked upwards. “On your way here?”

Usagi nodded, hoping her story would pass muster. She was beginning to feel better now. The blanket was scratchy and musty, but it was also toasty warm and dry, and was soaking the moisture and cold out of her sodden clothes. “I have a t-test coming up soon, and I heard that Hikawa Shrine d-does the best good luck charms around, even if it was a bit of a walk from my home. And I’m... uh...” she blushed, “k-kind of grounded at the moment, so I snuck out late to see if I could get one to help me p-pass.” She wrinkled her nose ruefully. “If I’d known I was gonna run into rioters like that, I’d’ve stayed in and done more homework,” she added, entirely truthfully.

He laughed at that, loud and lively. “Ha! Well, who am I to deny a pretty young girl who’s come all this way in the rain to patronise this humble shrine?” He threw her a wink. “I’ll give you a discount for your good taste.”

Usagi giggled a little at that – he was a bit of a dirty old man, but he seemed harmless and nice enough, and he was a lot cooler than most of the old people she’d met. He grinned back at her. “And hey,” he joked, “if you like it here you could be a part-time shrine maiden! We have an opening! Work here in a beautiful shrine on your afternoons and weekends, the pay is good, and you get to...”

A voice from behind her snapped out like a whip and cut him off in mid-sentence.

“Grandfather!”

Usagi turned. There was no real thought or choice involved in the matter. The clear, commanding voice was filled with passion and crackled like the snapping embers of a bonfire. She couldn’t help but see who it had come from. As it turned out, it had come from the girl now striding towards her.

Long, sable hair fell down the white haori of a miko’s outfit, fluttering slightly with each step. The girl was Usagi’s age, and several centimetres taller than her. She was also _gorgeous_ ; clear smooth skin, a perfect hourglass figure and deep, dark eyes. Irritation smouldered in them, directed past Usagi at the old man who was grinning sheepishly and rubbing the back of his head.

“Ah... Rei, heh...” he chuckled without a trace of shame. “Forgive an old man his little joke?”

Usagi stared. Something quietly did a backflip in her stomach, and she was vaguely aware of her heart hammering twice as fast as normal in her chest. Another jolt of butterflies took flight in her stomach as the girl’s gaze traced over to her, and changed.

First, for a brief fraction of a second, was recognition. It was gone almost immediately, swallowed by shock, then confusion, and then a mix of emotions that Usagi couldn’t quite put words to it, and which faded into vague puzzlement. Usagi felt it too, the strange déjà-vu sensation of having met the girl before, though with no idea of where or when or how. And then it was over, leaving Usagi reeling internally, as irritation returned and the girl strode forwards.

“ _Honestly_ , grandfather!” she snapped. “Leave the poor girl alone, she’s cold and drenched! And shrine maidens are more than just eye candy for you! We are not going to find anyone interested in working here if you _keep offering the job to random visitors!_ ”

“I wouldn’t mind working under you,” said Usagi without thinking. Then her brain kicked into gear, and she flushed as it repeated what her mouth had just blurted out.

The girl – Rei – slowed to a stop, looking at her. It should have been a quick glance, a dismissive look to convey ‘keep quiet’ before turning her ire back on the old priest. But somehow, her gaze got stuck. Usagi shifted nervously as those deep, dark eyes traced over her, dismissal replaced by evaluation.

“Hmm,” said the girl. The look of faint confusion was back, tinged with vague recognition. But again, bossiness muscled it out of the way, and she grabbed Usagi’s hand. “Come on, let’s get you changed and warmed up. Grandfather said you looked like you’d been pulled through a bush, but I didn’t realise he meant literally.”

“Well, I’m sure you can take good care of her and get her looking wonderful again!” grinned the old man, winking cheerfully. “In the meantime, if the young lady will give me her phone number, I’ll contact her parents and let them know she’s safe.”

He grinned. “Heh... it’s been a while since any pretty girls gave me their phone number, too!”

“Grandfather!”

...

In a numb daze of delayed shock and impending parental doom, Usagi allowed herself to be chivvied into a spare room and ordered into changing out of her sodden uniform and into a spare miko’s outfit. She couldn’t help but notice that she did not fill it out nearly as well as its original owner did. She also noticed that the other girl had pens tucked into her sash, which was rather incongruous when put together with the rest of her appearance.

The shrine maiden had disappeared off somewhere as she was changing, but ducked back into the room as she finished drying her hair with two mugs of something hot and... well, Usagi didn’t really taste it at the speed it went down, but it certainly warmed her up a lot. As she happily sighed and settled back in her seat, hugging the clean, dry fabric of the miko’s outfit to herself, the other girl looked her up and down with an expression she couldn’t quite place and sipped from her own mug. After a moment, she frowned and set it down unfinished as whatever was bothering her surfaced.

“Have you ever been here before?” she asked. “It’s been bugging me... you seem familiar.”

Usagi shook her head. “No, I’d never really been here before. Heard about it, but... anyway, I’d definitely remember meeting you. I’m sure I’ve never seen anyone like you at school.” Again, she realised too late what that must have sounded like. What _was_ it about this girl that kept making her do that? Or was she just that rattled still from the youma-thralls?

“Hmm.” It was a short, evaluative sound, followed by quiet in the room as Usagi gratefully drank the green tea. There was a soft tapping, as the other girl flicked her mug idly. “Were you serious about what you said back there? We... do need another shrine maiden, I suppose. There’s a paycheck in it, and you don’t need any qualifications. I would li...”

She cut off, and paused for thought briefly before restarting. “Grandfather says I’m too... intense towards girls who might be interested, so I suppose I’m willing to give you a try. But I’ll warn you, you’d be expected to work. Not just rites, either, you’d be helping care for the shrine. That means sweeping, cleaning, dances... all sorts of things. I won’t tolerate slacking.”

Usagi hesitated. A job? She was barely capable of doing her homework on time – in fact, before Luna had shown up, she _hadn’t_ always been capable of doing her homework on time. Even now it took a lot of nagging. But... something about the beautiful dark-haired girl attracted her like a magnet. It wasn’t just the girl’s looks, either. There was a force to her, a presence that seemed to sing in a way that Usagi knew she should know, but couldn’t put a name to.

Her mother had always told her that when she didn’t know what to do, she should trust in what her heart told her.

Usagi took a deep breath. “Um... yes ma’am. And I know, I’d... uh... I’m willing to work hard on important things like this.” And wasn’t that the truth. Though she probably couldn’t put ‘defending the city from evil monsters’ on her resume. Pity, really. She was fairly sure that would look good. Oh, but this job would actually look just as good on university applications, which the school was telling them they should be already thinking of.

The girl frowned. “Don’t... ‘ma’am’ me. My name is Rei. Rei Hino. Use it.”

“Usagi Tsukino,” offered Usagi hastily. She got another of those long, searching looks that made butterflies flutter around in her chest and stomach.

“... right. Well, Tsukino-san, this isn’t exactly normal hiring practice, but... okay, I suppose. We can talk about what hours you can work and what you’ll be paid some other time. Tomorrow, at the very earliest.” She looked Usagi up and down critically. “And get you a uniform, too. Which Grandfather will not be present for.” This last was said in warning tones without looking away from Usagi. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the old man wilt in disappointment at the door. She hadn’t even seen him arrive.

“Ah, granddaughter! Would you truly dash an old man’s hopes and dreams so cruelly?” he lamented melodramatically. The girl – Rei – just rolled her eyes at him, and he dropped the act good-naturedly. “Anyway, I called Tsukino-san’s parents. Her mother was... not best pleased at her behaviour, but agreed that with the rioters on the streets, it would be best if she stayed here for now.”

“Huh?” Usagi interjected, suddenly worried. If she stayed here, how was she going to tackle the youma? And... and Luna! What about Luna? Usagi was meant to be meeting her outside the shrine! “Ah heh... no, no, it’s fine, really! I’ll be fine!”

“You will not,” Rei put in. “Not with those rioters out there. They’re bad enough in the daytime – a couple of groups recognised me from the shrine and harassed me for good-luck talismans on my way to school. Probably for the stupid new gambling house they were talking about.”

Her grandfather raised an eyebrow. “Harassed you? You didn’t tell me about this.”

Rei shrugged. “Honestly, they weren’t much older than me, and they backed off both times as soon as I took their leader down. But you,” she turned back to Usagi, “are not going out on the street where there are gangs of grown men wandering around looking to do violence.”

“I... I can just take a bus back, or something!” protested Usagi, unwilling to give up quite so easily. Then she remembered that going home now would mean facing her mother sooner, and paused to think.

It proved a moot point, as the old man shook his head. “Absolutely not. People have been going missing from the late-night buses recently. I’m not going to risk that happening to my newest shrine maiden! Besides, there’s a spare room right next to Rei’s. It will be no problem, honestly.”

Just as he finished, a sudden clamour started up outside, cawing and screeching and the rattling of branches. It was audible even over the sound of the rain. Rei glanced back over her shoulder and frowned. “Urgh,” she muttered to herself. “Now what are they... excuse me, Tsukino-san. Something has disturbed the crows again. I need to go take care of this.” With a deliberate air, she picked up a broom which seemed a little sparse on the bristles, stared out the window, and sighed to herself. “Coat, coat, coat...” she muttered to herself, looking out at the rain.

“Um... right.” Usagi shifted nervously as she walked off, and glanced over at the priest. “Um, in that case...” she yawned theatrically. “You know, I’m... actually _really_ sleepy. I should probably go to bed now so that I can wake up early tomorrow. Uh...” she hesitated briefly. “... where am I staying?”

...

Sneaking out of the shrine, it turned out, was both harder and easier than sneaking out of her house. Harder, because she was in the room right next to Rei, and had to wait until the other girl had got back, checked in on her and settled down. Not to mention how much care she had to take not to make any noise. But it was easier, too. The shrine was larger than home, and there were no buildings adjacent to it. She didn’t have to worry about being spotted leaving through her window by a neighbour.

Transformed once again into a detective – with a waterproof hat and coat – she slunk down the long set of steps that led down to the road. Luna was waiting for her on a rock at the bottom of the hill, looking frazzled. There were several twigs caught in her fur, and a mudstain down the side of her flank which she was busily cleaning off in between bouts of low and irate muttering.

‘... uncouth, unintelligible, arrogant, hostile, violent daughters of... Usagi, there you are.’ She made one last attempt at the mud, then uncurled from her sitting position and leapt lightly off the rock, stalking over to Usagi’s side to take shelter under her coat. ‘I was about to come and get you, what took you so long?’

“Uh... it’s complicated. Did... things go well, then?” Usagi asked.

Luna huffed irately. ‘Not at all. There are definitely two spirits living there. But they’re in crow form, which they refuse to leave, and they either can’t or won’t talk to me. They can _understand_ me just fine, but as soon as I mentioned leaving the shrine and doing even the slightest thing to _help_ , they attacked me. And brought the rest of their mob in on it.’ She hissed in annoyance. ‘Needless to say, I’m not going back there again if I can help it. I rather doubt I would be welcome. Oh, if I... well, never mind. Let’s go home. Pick me up and get me out of this accursed rain.’

“Um,” said Usagi. “About that.”

There was a long silence. With dreadful slowness, Luna turned her head to face Usagi.

‘Usagi,’ she said in dangerously level tones. ‘What did you do?’

Somewhat garbled explanations ensued, as they made their way towards Roppongi. Luna listened mostly in silence, only occasionally interjecting.

‘You said _what._ ’

Certain details were expanded upon under the crimson-eyed feline glare.

‘A _part-time job?_ ’

And were promptly and duly admonished.

“Ahhh! Not the claws!”

However, regardless of Luna’s annoyance at this new development, they had a job to do, and so after only a minute or so of retributive ire, the pair were on their way again. The rain was slackening off as midnight approached, and the steady drumming diminished to a low pitter-patter as star-speckled black sky started to peek through holes in the clouds.

“Anyway, while I was there, I think I got a lead,” explained Usagi as she jogged down the street; Luna nestled once again in the shoulder bag that had come with the transformation. The light from the streetlamps cast an orange-yellow glow on her rain-slick hat and coat that faded and brightened as she moved past them. “Rei-san mentioned something about a couple of groups of rioters trying to get good-luck charms for a new gambling place. And Haruna-sensei said the same thing about the guy she was meant to be dating. It’s not much to go on, but it’s a lead.”

‘A casino?’ Luna frowned, shifting position slightly. ‘That does sound like the kind of place a youma might infiltrate. How are you going to find it?’ She paused, thoughtfully. ‘And do you have a plan for when you do?’

Usagi fell silent, thinking. She wasn’t breathing hard yet, despite the light jog she was maintaining – having gone for flat shoes this time – and the easy pace she was maintaining gave her time to think. “I dunno,” she admitted. “I guess I’ll keep my eyes open... maybe follow a group of rioters, or try and listen to them talking and hope they mention it.” She glanced around – how far had she come, half a mile? Something like that. She was into Roppongi now, and bright signs were visible on a few of the buildings, probably nightclubs and bars. She could see several more that were dark and dimmed, though. Apparently, the rioters hadn’t been very good for business here.

‘Alright,’ said Luna. ‘I suppose a plan for what to do once we find it can wait until we’ve actually done so. I’d suggest... urgh, you don’t know how to sense for dark energy yet, do you? Tch... I should have taken the time to teach you before leaving... alright, listen closely. You remember the sensation you felt from the youma a week ago? And the thralls tainted by this youma’s power?’

“Um...” said Usagi, staring straight ahead with wide eyes, “yes, but...”

‘No buts. Close your eyes and focus on extending your senses. Open your heart to the world and feel the ebb and flow of its energy, look for similarities to that feeling. You should be able to get a general sense of where the corrupted power is.’

“Uh, okay, but...”

‘Usagi.’ Luna looked up at her. ‘It’s okay if you’re nervous, I’m not expecting you to get it on the first try.’ She frowned. ‘This is really something I should have made sure you knew earlier... my fault, I’m afraid. Still, I trust that you’ll be able to pull it off with a bit of...’

“Luna!” Usagi interrupted her. The cat blinked, surprised, and Usagi blushed sheepishly. “Uh, sorry. But what I was trying to say was... um...” She looked back in the direction she’d been staring. “While I’m sure it’s a useful skill and all, I... don’t think I’ll need it.”

Luna blinked, and followed the girl’s gaze down the road. Several hundred metres from where they were standing, past the closed stores with their hatches down and the nightclubs and bars whose signs were dimmed or completely dark, one edifice stood out like a sore thumb. Neon signs glowed on the three-storey structure, advertising to all and sundry that the Balmy House of Fortune was open for business. It was doing a roaring trade, too, with a milling crowd around the entrance and the sound of considerable activity emanating from within.

‘...’ said Luna. ‘Or... or we could go there, yes,’ she amended. ‘Uh... good work on spotting it. Well done. Now, let’s go.’

Usagi didn’t move. After a moment’s silence, she spoke in a small voice.

“There’ll be another youma in there, won’t there? Like the last one. The... the monster.”

Luna looked up at her charge, who was biting her lip. Now that the enemy was in sight, she had gone very pale, and her breathing had sped up.

‘... yes,’ said Luna quietly.

“And... they’ll probably be expecting me this time, since I killed the last one. Won’t there?’

‘... yes.’

“And... and there will be the smoke-things. Inside the people. But they can come out and... and I’ll have to fight them too.”

‘Yes. You will. If they attack you before you can defeat their master.’

Another silence. Were those just raindrops from the light drizzle still falling, trickling down Usagi’s face? Or were they tears?

“Luna,” said Usagi, quietly. “I... I don’t want to go. I’m scared.” Luna winced at her tone of voice. There was no wailing, no over-the-top dramatics. Frankly, that would have been more reassuring than this... this quiet terror and pleading.

But if Usagi didn’t do this...

‘I know,’ Luna sighed. ‘I know, Usagi-chan, and I’m sorry. But there’s nobody else. I’ve been looking, I promise – there are others, and I _will_ find them for you. You do have allies out there who will help you. But right now, it’s just you and me.’ She felt Usagi slump, and wracked her mind for something to bolster the girl’s failing courage. Inspiration struck.

‘If it helps,’ she remarked casually, ‘Tuxedo Mask will probably show up if you’re facing any real danger. But I’m not sure he’ll be able to handle it by himself, and I’m certain that the people in there would be in more danger if he fought alone.’

Silence for a moment longer, and Luna felt the horrifying fear that maybe Usagi’s nerve just wasn’t up to this. But then the girl’s shoulders squared as she took a deep breath and let it out in a weary sigh.

“Right then,” she said firmly. The fear was still there, in her voice. But dampened down, suppressed by willpower and – Luna suspected – deliberately not thinking about what she was doing.

“In that case, I have a plan.”

...


	6. A Rigged Game! The Evil Youma Gambles on Success!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Whims of Chance

‘A plan, huh?’ Luna hopped out of Usagi’s bag onto a low wall and looked up at the bright edifice of the casino. It was an eyesore, with flashing neon signs that clashed horribly with one another, and the pulsing beat of loud music coming from within. ‘Fine,’ she said, ‘let’s hear it.’

Usagi didn’t answer immediately. Instead, she pulled out the Transformation Pen and twirled it between her fingers speculatively as she thought. Luna raised an eyebrow.

‘You’re not going to transform into Sailor Moon?’ she asked, mildly surprised.

“No, no yet.” Usagi replied distractedly. “I need to check out the inside first. And do something about the...” she hesitated briefly, biting her lip, “... about the smoke-things. I was thinking of setting off the fire alarm. That would get everyone outside, except maybe the youma. And it would turn on the sprinklers, which would stop the smoke-things from spreading so much.” She wrinkled her nose. “I don’t suppose I can purify water?”

Luna shook her head. ‘Imbuing a purification spell in something is complicated. _I’m_ not sure how you would do that, so it’s unlikely you’d be able to. You’re not necessarily the right p... well, it might not even be something you can do without help. But it’s a good plan anyway. The youma will still probably call its servants back in, though.’

“I know.” Usagi shivered. “But... it should take them longer to get there and buy me time. And I hope the water will work against them, as long as it keeps going.”

‘Leave that to me. I’ll make sure it doesn’t shut off.’

Usagi shot her a grateful look, and appeared to reach a decision. “Okay then. Moon Power! Make me a pretty young gambler!”

Luna huffed in annoyance as the ribbons of soft light spread from the wand down Usagi’s arm, wreathing her in white radiance as if she’d stepped into a shadow shaped from starlight. ‘Do you always have to specify _pretty?_ ’ she grouched. ‘Honestly, it sounds entirely unprofessional.’

The light faded, revealing a rather older Usagi with dyed-green hair, wearing a tight miniskirt and jacket. Luna blinked, and then gave her a rather more disapproving look.

‘Wait, _this_ is your idea of pretty? You look like some kind of raver! That skirt is almost a belt! It’s entirely unsuitable!’

“Good!” Usagi responded, ignoring the jibe at her taste. “That means I should blend in perfectly, right?” She whisked her hair back over one shoulder and put her hands on her hips, taking in the club. “How old are you, anyway, if you think this is unsuitable? Those girls over there are barely any older than I am! You’re just a cat, not my mother” But the outburst of bravado was just a distraction. She drew in a long, deep breath and let it out in a rush, gathering her courage.

“ _Right_ then,” she said, trying and failing to keep the shake out of her voice. “Lu-Luna? Stay close?”

Luna leapt down from her perch and brushed up against an ankle, purring quietly. ‘Right beside you,’ she promised, wishing she could remove the reason for that tremor in the young woman’s voice.

“... thanks.”

The inside of the casino was scarcely better than the outside, Usagi found. Whitewashed walls and a linoleum floor stretched out across the wide room that took up most of the ground floor of the building. It was split into sections, with walkways between the blocks of machines – slot machines over to her right, pool tables over in one of the far corners, tables for what looked like some sort of card game off to her right behind more tables for games she only vaguely recognised from television and movies. The place was full of people – men in rumpled office suits, youths clad in leather jackets and tattered jeans, women in off-the-shoulder dresses or figure-hugging slacks – all of them playing at the games, talking, drinking, smoking.

And overlaying it all was the stench of rot and darkness, completely unnoticed by the people who laughed and joked with one another, unable see the trap they were standing in.

‘Usagi...’ hissed Luna near-silently, a velvet shadow cloaked in the still-deeper shadow beneath a table. Usagi staggered towards it, half-falling into one of the seats. ‘There’s...’

“I know,” she murmured back. “I can feel it. It’s... _everywhere_.”

And everywhere it was. She had felt it as a lurking infection in the smoke-ridden thralls earlier, but here it was overpowering. Dark energy puffed in phantom wisps from the dice as they bounced on the craps tables, it jangled in the counters of the slot machines as they spun, it coiled around the cards as they were dealt back and forth to be reshuffled. Usagi had to bring a hand up to her mouth; it felt like she was going to gag.

‘Stay focused, Usagi,’ warned Luna. ‘And try to keep out of view of the cameras. You don’t know who might be watching through them.’

“Mmm.” She nodded anxiously, and shook herself out of the horrified stupor she’d been in. “Fire alarm, fire alarm... can you see a fire alarm?”

‘No, not from here. I can’t risk the cameras seeing me. You’ll just have to look for one.’

A few seconds of careful observation, and Usagi spotted one, not far from the stairs. Pushing herself up from the table, she started towards it, circling around the larger groups of people and flinching at every shout that came from near her. She tried to keep her eyes on the ground, not wanting to draw anyone’s attention.

She’d managed to get three quarters of the way there when an arm was slung around her waist, and she was pulled sideways into someone’s leather jacket. A half-yelp, half-shriek escaped her, and she flailed around to get a look at her assailant. It was a man a few years older than the disguise form she was wearing, with stubble speckling his chin and a cigarette in his mouth. He was leaning against the end of one of the rows of slot machines, half perched, with a half-empty beer bottle on the unoccupied seat of the nearest one. Squeaking, Usagi tried to pull away, but his arm was clamped tight around her waist, not letting her move.

“Hey, babe,” he slurred, eyes focusing considerably lower than her face, “lookin’ for a good time?”

Usagi recoiled as far as she could. He stank of alcohol, but it was almost overpowered by the reek of the smoke-monster. With his hand all but touching her skin, she could _feel_ the thing inside him, curled up in his heart like a parasite. The scent of corruption had a strong, bitter edge that she could only associate with burning metal, and which made her gag. If she threw up on him... well, at least that would probably make him go away, she thought with an edge of hysteria.

“N... no,” she trembled. “No... time. I have to...” she tried to pull away again, an abortive movement prevented again by his grip. “P-please, let go of me! I have to go, I’m...”

“Babe, babe.” He scowled at her, still slurring his words, obviously drunk. “Quit playin’ hard to get, yeah? Jus’ relax, an’...”

He brought his other hand up towards her chest, and she yelped and slapped it away. Hard. Then, while the adrenaline rush of outrage still blotted out the terror, she slapped him around the face as well, and peeled his arm off from where it had been edging downwards from her hip. But the slap only sent him back one step, and when he turned back to her his eyes were dark with drunken rage. Usagi paled and began to back away, raising her hands shakily as he advanced on her, her heart racing.

“Dumb _bitch_ ,” he growled. “Learn your pla...”

And then he yelled, dropping to the ground as if a leg had been kicked out from under him. Which, Usagi realised, it had. Four long tears marked the denim of his jeans from his ankle to halfway up his shin, and blood was already staining the blue fabric from the deep gashes beneath them. The drunkard howled in pain, thrashing around on the floor and knocking several of the people playing slots off their chairs and down on top of him. Usagi quickly became the furthest thing from his mind as several of them objected violently, and out of the corner of her eye she caught a small black silhouette dissolving into the shadows between two of the slot machines.

“Luna,” she whispered as she hurriedly put some distance between her and the growing commotion, “I take back everything I ever said about you being a meanie. Thank you.”

Stumbling forward, she pretended to trip – well, okay, it wasn’t entirely a pretence – and rammed an elbow forward into the glass panel of the fire alarm. The wailing tones broke out immediately, and Usagi held her breath for a moment, hoping desperately that it wouldn’t just be ignored.

But her fears were unfounded. There was grumbling, there were a few angry yells and scuffles, but the crowds began to move towards the doors and the fire exits, retreating outside to the fire assembly points.

To the...

‘Usagi, where are you going?’ yelled Luna at her charge’s retreating back. She gave chase, quickly catching up to the sprinting girl, who replied between pants as she ran.

“They’re all... going to be... outside in one place,” she explained. “Grouped together. I can get them all in one shot!”

Luna blinked, and revised her estimate of Usagi’s tactical skill upwards again. ‘That’s good thinking. You remember how to purify tainted humans? Remember to put more power into it this time, you’ve got more targets. And the smoke-parasites are more insidious. The rest should die when you kill the youma, with any luck, or you’ll be hunting them down for a while.’

“Uh huh. Got it.”

‘Good. Now get somewhere out of sight. Come on, this way.’ They slipped outside, and Usagi followed Luna’s lead in avoiding the milling crowds, creeping over to take refuge behind a van. ‘Transform,’ the cat whispered, ‘and then try to hit as many of them as you can with the first shot. We don’t have much time.’

“Right,” Usagi agreed. Then hesitated. Luna watched her expectantly for a moment. And then another. And another.

‘... Usagi... you do remember your transformation phrase, don’t you?’ she growled darkly.

“Yesyesyes!” the girl babbled hastily. “I was just... uh... preparing! Uh... it was... um... something... something like...” Her eyes flickered briefly, then widened as she remembered. Her hand went to the brooch over her heart, and she whispered the phrase triumphantly; “Make Up!”

Luna had to suppress the urge to bat the girl around the head for forgetting half of it anyway. But the transformation took. The ribbons of light flowed out from the jewelled brooch, enveloping her charge in the space between heartbeats, and when they faded...

... when they faded, it was Sailor Moon who opened her eyes again.

...

The crowd milled about in front of the building, already muttering mutinously. There didn’t seem to be any sign of fire inside, and no alarms or sirens could be heard approaching. Some of the gamblers were already waving the alarm off as a hoax and calling for a move back indoors. Others were arguing with them, and more than a few people had peeled off the crowd and left in disgust.

All those still present, however, were distracted from the developing arguments when a voice rang through the street as if broadcast from every rooftop and window.

“Stop arguing with each other and being so violent! Gambling and drinking are vices in excess, and you’re doing both of them! I am Sailor Moon, and in the name of the Moon, I’ll purify you!”

Heads turned this way and that in confusion, until a flash of light caught their attention. Atop a car nearby she stood, hair-streamers blowing back in the wind, glaring at them with an expression of righteous judgement. Some of the assembled crowd recognised her from the papers; others were not of the reading persuasion. But regardless of whether they knew who she was, the crowd’s response was almost universal.

Laughter.

The crowd gawped and jeered, pointing and peering at her. Ripples of laughter and hooted comments came from near the back, and she picked up on some of the threads of conversation going on.

“Hah, guys, check it out, there’s some chick...”

“... hey, look, her skirt is blowin’ in...”

“... what’s she wearing, it looks...”

“... hear what she said, it was something like...”

“... old is she? And what’s she...”

“... this some sort of entertainment thing or something? Cause it ain’t all that...”

Temper flaring, Moon stamped hard, putting a rather large dent in the roof of the car she was standing on. “Hey!” she yelled. “Stop laughing at me! I’m a warrior of Love and Justice, and you’re all possessed! This isn’t a joke!”

“Sure we are, sweetheart,” someone yelled mockingly, “and are you gonna make us fee- fe...” he trailed off into coughs, his taunting expression morphing into one of confusion, then pain, as wracking coughs shook his torso. Others were beginning to cough as well, like an epidemic spreading through the crowd fast enough to see. Moon’s eyes widened as she saw the smoke beginning to curl out from the mouths of the first few to start. Grabbing for her tiara instinctively, she felt it morph into the disk in her hand. But... she couldn’t throw it. Not at real people...

‘Sailor Moon! Purify them! Like the others, last time!’

The reminder jolted her out of her hesitation, and she held the disk out in front of her like a shield. Most of the people were on the floor now, their faces screwed up in pain as the parasites inside them forced their way out. Moon glared at the wisps of smoke that were beginning to rise upwards, dragging their hosts with them.

“No you don’t,” she growled, and summoned up her anger at the horrible things. And... also some of the anger at the people they were riding, for taunting her like that, plus a little bit of righteous judgement at the things they’d been doing. That behaviour, that dark influence that had made them riot and fight and vandalise, needed to be _purged_. Commanding the silver light within, she found it easier to pull up this time, more responsive to her call. Almost like it wanted to be unleashed.

Moon was happy to oblige. She filled her heart with virtuous fury and channelled the emotion through the glowing disk her tiara had become. It shone like a searchlight, casting a beam of bright white light forward that washed over the whole street, glinting off metal and illuminating those exposed to it in an eerie radiance.

Under the unforgiving glow, the parasite-creatures screeched and twisted, writhing in pain as the smoke-stuff that made up their forms was scattered and swirled away. Moon kept up the pressure, kept the anger at what they had done to these people stoked bright and hot within her chest and let loose her passion in another blinding flash. The smoke-things were little more than wraiths by that point, all but dissolved by the sacred luminance, and the flash ripped what was left of them apart completely. In the face of the wave of magic, they simply ceased to be, undone completely, and a shuddering sigh ran through the prone people they had infected as they were released from their enthrallment.

Checking warily to make sure there wasn’t anyone still standing, Moon lowered the tiara, and absently returned it to her forehead. She grinned, feeling rather proud of herself for that, and would probably have patted herself on the back had Luna not chosen that moment to break in with a sardonic comment.

‘Very good, Sailor Moon, but don’t forget – those were only the minions. The youma is still inside. And there may be others.’

“... ah,” she gulped nervously. “Right. Yes.” She paused briefly, remembering the last one. “... do I have to?”

Claws glinted in the light of the streetlamps above them.

“Okay yes ma’am Luna-sama, I’m going!” Moon still had no desire to feel those claws applied to her vulnerable ankles, and scrambled towards the door to the casino, carefully easing it open and slipping inside. She looked around cautiously, searching for any humanoid figures still in the large space.

‘It’s not down here,’ Luna remarked, slipping past her. ‘You’d probably feel it if it was. I certainly would. Hmm... upstairs, I think.’

“Right.”

She advanced up the stairs slowly, cautiously, trying to feel forward for the youma lurking somewhere on the upper floor. The red emergency lighting painted deep frown-lines on her face. She couldn’t hear anything, over the shrill noise of the fire alarm. Would Tuxedo Mask show up to save her if she got in trouble, she wondered? Maybe this time she could talk to him, or at least get a better look at him than last time. Or perhaps even...

“Gah!”

Moon dived back, hitting the floor shoulder-first as the dark _something_ she’d barely seen flying at her smashed into the stairs where she’d been standing, punching a hole clean through the carpeted wood and throwing up splinters every which-way. She turned the motion into a roll to avoid the next one, and realised only halfway through it that she didn’t actually know how to come out of a roll properly. With a yelp and a bruised back and tailbone, she landed hard in a sitting position next to a pachinko machine and ducked instinctively, pulling her tiara off in desperate panic.

The third blow slammed through the machine directly where her head had been, and she lashed out and upwards with the razor-edged glowing disk instinctively. She felt a brief resistance, then an angry scream from somewhere near the stairs. The long dark shape above her withdrew like a scalded hand, and she took the opportunity to scrabble around the machine and hide behind it. Pachinko balls fell out of the gaping hole with a series of tinkling clinks, pooling on the floor.

‘Brat!’ hissed a serpentine voice from the base of the stairs, audible even over the alarms. ‘Come out of there now!’ There was a reverb to the voice as it modulated strangely in anger. But no attack accompanied it, or any dark shape punching into her cover. Warily, she risked a peek through the gap, not wanting to poke her head out where it would be exposed.

She couldn’t get a clear look, or see anything above the youma’s chest. It seemed to be dressed in some sort of long, flowing robe, though, and from the way it was turning it wasn’t quite sure where she was. It was trailing smoke behind it, venting it from the tips of its hair – gods, was that how it had been possessing people? And back to the matter at hand, had it not been watching as she’d scrambled behind the machine? Maybe it had been coming downstairs then – she was pretty sure it had attacked her from the upper landing. Speaking of which...

A dark tendril of something floated into view near its shoulders, and it took Moon a second or two to realise it was hair. It didn’t move like hair, though. It was knotted and bunched into something that looked almost like a fist, and moved with purpose, deliberately. Moon couldn’t help but stare. It could move its _hair?_ And attack with it hard enough to punch holes through sheet metal or the floor? She would need to take it by surprise.

“Moon Tiara,” she whispered, hand going to her tiara and plucking it from her brow. It hummed in her grip, shifting again into the lethal ring that seemed to fit her hand like a glove. Glancing again through the hole and getting a read on its position, she took a deep breath, ignoring the noise.

Then, in a single fluid motion, she stood, aimed and threw.

“Action!”

As the attack hurtled through the air towards the youma, she got a good look at it for the first time. Its skin was a mottled scaly green, and its tongue seemed to be forked like a snake’s. Black hair drifted around it as if it were underwater, in grasping tendrils and knotted fists. Even as she stood and threw, the slitted eyes focused on her and two tendrils shot out, lengthening and reshaping as they went until the ends were viciously sharp blades. More hair massed to deflect the tiara. It disintegrated under the assault, prompting a shriek of pain from the youma as a mere glancing touch incinerated the locks down to the scalp with a hissing sound and a scent of burnt oil. But it was enough to deflect the silver projectile off onto a curving course back to Moon’s hand, stymied in its assault.

And fast as the flashing ring was, the bladed hair-tendrils were going to get there first. Moon screamed, trying to dodge sideways. Her foot came down on the pachinko balls and slid, whipping out from under her and knocking her off balance. With a loud crash, she toppled over again, hitting the floor prone just as the hair-limbs whistled through the space she had occupied. The youma hissed in irritation, stabbing down randomly behind the cover and advancing to regain sight of its prey. It hit nothing but the floor, as Moon crawled hastily on hands and knees into the rows of slot machines, then dragged herself back upright and ran along the rows as quietly as possible, bent low so as not to be seen.

‘You can’t hide forever, brat!’ warned the youma. It was looking rather dishevelled, and there were prominent bald patches from the damage Usagi had done to it. There was a crash as it tore one of the machines loose with its hair and threw it aside. ‘I’ll find you sooner or later, and my lord will reward me when I bring him your head! Come out now, and I’ll make it painless!’

“Liar!” retorted Moon, using the trick that had come naturally to make her voice ring out sourcelessly as if from everywhere. “You surrender, or I’ll punish you for spreading all this mayhem and chaos!” She got a furious hiss in return, and another crash. It seemed that the youma was quite content to take the casino apart bit by bit to get at her, if it had to.

Crouching behind a row of fake potted plants that separated the slots machines from what looked like some sort of bar area; Moon panted quietly and tried to think of a plan. Attacking head-on had not worked. She wracked her brains for anything else she could try. Now would really be a _really good_ time for Tuxedo Mask to show up, but... he was nowhere to be seen. Okay. Okay then. That was fine. She could handle this on her own. She could...

‘Sailor Moon.’

... stifle a shriek, and then duck low, terrified, as the youma looked over in her direction. She found herself staring into the crimson eyes of her cat, and scowled.

“Where have you been?” she hissed. “I could have used some help!”

‘Then you shouldn’t have let its first attack separate us,’ retorted Luna, entirely unsympathetic. ‘And help was what I was about to offer. I can distract it, make it turn around. That’ll give you one shot. Make sure you make good use of it.’

Moon’s animosity vanished. “Okay!” she agreed. “I’ll be ready!” She watched Luna nod gravely and slip off into the shadows, then turned her attention back to the youma, peeking through the plastic leaves of the potted plants at the reptilian monster breaking its way through the slot machines. It was headed roughly toward her, orienting on the quiet shriek she’d made.

“Moon Tiara,” she whispered, readying her attack and getting ready to stand and hurl it. Another crash as the youma threw a machine in her general direction, landing short. It was using the things it ripped up as a weapon now, throwing them around to cover a wider area and try to flush her out. Moon held her breath tensely, willing Luna to make a move soon.

Something clattered on the other side of the room. A stool, knocked over? A pool cue pushed off its table? Moon didn’t know and didn’t care. All that mattered was that the youma swung around, wrenching a heavy console from where it was bolted to the floor and holding it above its head with two huge claw-like appendages of woven hair. Moon sprang up, bringing the tiara round in a fluid arc that sent it soaring towards the monster.

“Action!”

Yet somehow, impossibly, the youma reacted. It twisted round with shocking speed, even before she had finished speaking, and its slitted yellow eyes widened in fear at the blazing disk shooting towards it. It stepped back in terror, bringing down the machine in an attempt to block the tiara. Metal shrieked as it carved a glowing red-hot path through the cheap steel and plastic of the bulky mechanism, but it was enough for the youma to hurl the whole machine aside, tiara still trapped inside it, to crash down on the far side of the room.

It started smoking – real, genuine smoke, which seemed almost clean compared to the youma’s filth, and which set off the smoke detectors for real. The sprinklers promptly turned on, showering the entire room.

Moon clenched her fists tightly, water running down her face and leaving her hair sodden. But the tiara didn’t come.

‘Now...’ growled the youma, leaving oily streaks on the ground where it stepped, ‘nowhere left to run.’ It grinned, revealing a row of sharp, metallic teeth. ‘I’m going to enjoy this...’

All of its hair knotted together into two huge tendrils and shot forward. There were blades forming from the appendages, and claws, and barbed hooks and worse things still. Moon stood petrified, wide-eyed, unable to make a sound.

And then, a split-second before they hit her, something long and thin and glinting blurred across the tendrils a bare metre or so from the youma’s face. They lost cohesion and fell to the floor, mere strands of hair once again, and the youma screamed louder and more harshly than any sound it had made so far, clutching at the severed locks and staggering back to crash into a roulette table.

“Those who spread corruption and vice, and seek to defile beauty...” said a voice. Sailor Moon knew that voice. Her heart leapt at hearing it once again, and she turned eagerly to its source. Somehow, the fire alarms had turned off. Just for him to speak.

Silhouetted against a window on the far side of the room, Tuxedo Mask held his cane in the pose he had brought it down in. The rod had extended enough to cross the room in a blink of an eye, and cut through the youma’s reinforced hair as if it were a hot knife slicing through a rice ball. “... I cannot forgive such people,” he continued in an ominous tone. “Sailor Moon. Are you hurt?”

“Tuxedo Mask!” Moon’s eyes shone with happiness, and she beamed at her tall, dark-clad saviour. “No, I’m fine! Thank you so much!”

He nodded, lips quirking in a faint smile beneath the half-mask as he strolled forward, pausing to pick her tiara out from the wreckage of the machine that was strewn around it. “Then allow me to return your tiara, fair Moon, along with the best of wishes.”

Moon’s heart fluttered at the eloquent speech. The youma was less impressed. Clawing itself upright, its remaining hair shrivelled an ugly greyish-white from where Tuxedo Mask’s cane had sliced through it, the monster screeched at him.

‘Insolent whelp!’ it roared hatefully, ‘You... you dare cut my beautiful hair! Maim me! I’ll kill you, you brat!’

It lunged at him, claws extending, reptilian face a mask of hatred. But its charge was uncoordinated and clumsy, and Moon could see the faint smirk that crossed the man’s face as it came at him. His cane whipped out again, and her eyes widened as a clawed hand went flying to disintegrate against a wall. Even as the beast screamed, the black-clad man cut again, and the youma was comprehensively disarmed.

Wailing in pain, grey already seeping across its wretched face, the monster collapsed to its knees. The masked man took a single step back, drawing back his arm. Usagi squeezed her eyes shut hastily, and heard a quick patter of footsteps over the wailing, followed by the faint whistle of the cane and a thump as a body hit the floor, dissolving into dust as it went. The wailing cut off abruptly. Less than a second later, there was another, fainter thump, accompanied by a pattering sound. Then nothing but the muffled sounds of the city from outside.

Tentatively, she risked opening her eyes. Tuxedo Mask stood before her, offering her tiara back. She blushed, accepting it and returning it to her forehead, and peered round him at the youma. There was a largeish pile of dust on the floor, and a smaller amount sprayed out several metres beyond it. Moon winced as she put together what had happened.

“Th... thank you,” she stuttered. He bowed low, making her blush again. Then he turned to leave, his cape billowing as he walked to the door. Blinking at the abrupt departure, she gathered her wits enough to hastily call after him, “wait! Who are...”

But he was gone, vanished into the night. She pouted, and looked around for Luna, who she found sniffing at the dust that was left of the youma and frowning. After a moment, she looked up at Sailor Moon.

‘Hmm,’ she said quietly. ‘Well, anyway. That wasn’t too bad. But you still need to train more. And we need to be out of here soon, before the police show up. See if there were any other smoke-minions quickly, with the sensing technique, and then we can be off.’

...

Walking back to the shrine, Usagi’s complaints formed a backdrop that Luna mostly ignored as she paced along beside the teenager, occupied with her own thoughts.

“... should have asked him first! Though why’d he even run off so fast, anyway? Oh, do you think he likes me? And he’s shy of being around me because I’m so beautiful... hee!” Usagi spun around giddily, hugging herself. “His voice is really dreamy when he does speak, too... okay! I have to make him more comfortable with being close to me! Then he’ll get brave enough to ask me out on a date, and then be my boyfriend, and then...”

‘He could be an enemy, you know,’ Luna pointed out.

“What?!” Usagi glared at her. “What are you talking about? He’s saved my life! Twice!”

‘Which doesn’t necessarily preclude him being an enemy.’ Luna jumped up onto a fence to stare her charge in the eyes. ‘Listen to me very carefully, Usagi. Just because people are helping you doesn’t mean they’re on the same side as you, or that they don’t have their own goals. Until we know what he’s doing and how and why he’s doing it, we have to assume that he may have hidden motives.’

Usagi looked at her rebelliously. “Put like that, I shouldn’t trust _you_ ,” she objected. “You might have hidden motives! I don’t know why you’re helping me either!” She paused. “Uh... well... apart from fighting the youma, I guess. That probably counts as a motive. But still!”

‘...’ said Luna, her tail twitching slightly as she looked away. ‘... alright, fine. Maybe treating him as a potential enemy is an overreaction. Just... try to keep a clear head where he’s concerned? As a favour? To me?’

“... fine.” Usagi blinked as Luna nodded and began to move off down a side road. “Wait... aren’t you coming back to the shrine with me?”

The cat looked back over her shoulder. ‘No, if I go back there I’m just going to get mobbed again.’ Pausing, Luna turned back and frowned at Usagi. ‘Speaking of which, I’m still not happy about this job you’ve decided to volunteer for. You don’t have time for things like that, you have a duty!’

“You’re the one telling me I need to be more responsible!” Usagi shot back. “A job will teach me about that, won’t it? And it’s only a part-time one!”

‘If that were all, I wouldn’t be so worried, but a job somewhere I can’t _go_ , somewhere with territorial spirits who...’ Luna trailed off, and thought for a moment. ‘... ah.’ Reaching a conclusion, she looked up at Usagi knowingly. The girl shifted, refusing to meet her eye. ‘I see. That’s why, isn’t it?’

“I don’t...” Usagi mumbled, and looked down guiltily. “I just... it would be nice to have somewhere this whole Sailor Moon thing... can’t touch me. You know? Somewhere away from it all, just sometimes.”

Luna sighed. ‘I suppose it is _safe_ , given the protections there...’

“I promise that if there’s a real emergency I’ll come right away!” Usagi interjected, jumping at the slight wavering of Luna’s position. “Uh... hmm. Though I’m not sure... maybe you could call my mobile?”

Few animals have a glare both as eloquent and dismissive as a cat’s. Luna demonstrated hers, and Usagi flushed in embarrassment. “I mean... um...”

‘I’ll get you a communicator,’ Luna sighed. ‘It’s about time you had one, anyway. And... I’ll allow the part-time job. For now.’

“Yay!” Usagi cheered, bouncing up and down happily. “I knew you’d come around once...”

‘But,’ Luna interjected, ‘I’m still not going to help you in your next battle.’

“Wh-what?” Usagi stuttered, confused. Luna might be annoyed over her spontaneity in making the decision, and she might disapprove of her working in the shrine, but compromising the fight against the youma because of it? That seemed completely contradictory to everything she knew about her feline advisor. “Why not?”

‘Because your next battle, once you get back to that shrine and then return home tomorrow morning, is going to be explaining to your mother why you were out late at night half a ward away. Not to mention how you picked up a part-time job in the process.’

... oh. Right. That. She’d forgotten about that. Yes, explaining all of this to Mama, along with the state of her school uniform and... and how she’d been breaking her grounding to go out in the first place... was going to be... um...

“... ahhhh! Luna! You’re mean! Help me! No, come back! Luna! _Luna!_ ”

And as Luna flitted away into the shadows, Usagi’s protesting wails rose up into the night behind her once again.

...


	7. Caught in a Cruel Trap! Can Usagi Escape her Torment?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Moonrise

Cold blue eyes narrowed in a dark place. Dim violet witch-fires flickered from the ceiling and the floor alike, casting mad shadows across the face of a lounging figure and the iron statues which stood locked in pained poses around him.

“Two youma.” The man’s voice was low and harsh. “ _Two_. Two operations, disrupted. Two serfs, wasted. Two acts of _defiance_ gone unpunished. This _cannot_ be allowed to stand.”

He stood abruptly; the craggy seat of rock that he had been lounging on vanishing into the shadows behind him with an idle wave of his hand. In this place, surroundings were something you brought with you. The pitch-black shadows that stretched away to infinity in every direction spoke volumes as to the man’s mood.

He glared into the dark for a moment longer, then shook his head. His long, elegant fingers formed a short series of mudras, lean hands moving effortlessly through the shapes. Finishing, he spoke a word that sent ripples of uneasy motion through the murky curtains of his surroundings and motioned sharply in front of him, as if flicking water off his hands and onto the floor. And indeed, something seemed to strike the floor – barely distinguishable as a flat black plane amidst slightly lighter shades. A circle about a metre across wavered slightly, then fountained upwards in a spout of... something, before it fell away to leave a crouching, vaguely feminine figure.

The newcomer was bald, save for a mane of pale, bushy hair that sprouted from the back of its head, and wore a tattered robe that left one smooth leg entirely free. The garment seemed to be worn more as an absent-minded attempt at decoration than any real need for coverage. More than that, though, the figure _gleamed_ , even in the dim light of this murky place. Its skin was a blueish-green crystal that nonetheless moved as smoothly as more natural flesh. The creature half-rose from its crouched position and looked around in confusion and a certain amount of queasiness from the sudden summoning. It quickly caught sight of the man, and its eyes widened.

‘M-my lord Jadeite!’ it stammered. ‘I- my apologies!’ It knelt humbly, prostrating itself in front of him. ‘How may I serve?’

The man stood at a slight angle to it, staring off into the shadows. He didn’t look directly at the servant he had summoned. He didn’t need to.

“There have been complications, Earth-side,” he stated coldly. “Two youma have been killed, with no indication of what killed them. The city is...” he frowned, “... Tokyo.” His hand strayed to the hilt of his sword, tapping against the antique metal in annoyance. “Take a hand-picked squad. Find this... annoyance. Make an example of it. Bring me back its head.” He paused, considering. “And if you can keep the head alive... well, that would merely be an added amusement.”

Duc Jadeite, General of the Pacific Plate, Fourth Commander of the Dark Kingdom, turned a hard eye on the youma that knelt before him.

“Do not return until this act of defiance has been crushed,” he finished. His cold tones left no doubt as to what would happen if he was disobeyed. “Chevalier Derella. You have your orders. Go.”

The youma knew her master. She didn’t waste a second in leaving his presence, heading off to pick a group of lesser spirits to accompany her on her mission.

Left alone in the open space, Jadeite breathed out slowly, his breath stirring the currents of shade into twisting, curling wisps. A mere youma was not a formidable opponent, that was true, he reflected. The ones he had assigned to the operations that had been disrupted were nothing special, at least in the field of the martial arts. And yet...

... and yet finding them at all should have been the hard part. And even taking their relative weakness into account, to kill them so quickly and so cleanly that they were unable to escape or even get word out...

Well. It spoke of a swift and deadly opponent. He was facing someone perceptive and intelligent enough to pick out his serfs from their disguises, as well as dangerous and stealthy enough to kill them with such speed and skill that they weren’t even able to call for help. Murderous, precise, efficient. Rather admirable, all in all, and it was a shame such an effective opponent was on the other side to him. He would quite like to know who this man who dared oppose him was.

The youma noble he had tasked to the annoyance should be capable of dealing with him. Still, he couldn’t help but wonder about the ruthless, dedicated mortal that must be opposing him. If he evaded this trap, perhaps Jadeite would deign to set foot on Earth again and take his head personally, as a compliment to his skill.

Whoever he was, he had to know that his opening assault wouldn’t go unanswered. A faint smirk curled the corners of Jadeite’s mouth as he imagined what frantic preparations the mortal must be working on even now...

...

“Usagi!”

The shout was an augur to the ears, a cruel, clawed hand ripping away the warm, comfortable blanket of sleep – and also the warm comfortable blanket of the bed – to drag its crying, thrashing victim into the painful purgatory of the waking world.

Throwing the curtains open to cast agonisingly direct sunlight onto the unprepared face of the innocent sleeper was just the sadistic icing on a cake made entirely of _raw agony_.

“Mgghhhh!” Usagi whimpered, reaching desperately for covers that were no longer there while at the same time trying to shield herself from the merciless rays of bright light. The result was that neither attempt was particularly successful, and she was slowly and excruciatingly winched into full wakefulness, regardless of her wishes to the contrary. “Nngaaah!”

Her mother was completely and utterly unmoved by her protests, however. When Usagi eventually opened her eyes and sat up blearily, she had already neatly folded the covers to allow the bed to air, and was pinning her daughter with a beady eye, hands on hips. A muzzy-headed glance over at her bedside clock – which took a few seconds to decipher despite the thing being digital – told Usagi it was a little before half past six in the morning.

She hadn’t been previously aware that such a time existed, except academically. She had always been happy to know there had to theoretically be such hours or else the clock would have a large gap in it, but the two of them had got on fine for years without ever meeting. To experience such an hour in person was a profoundly unwelcome shock.

Giving her mother a look of pure, tortured betrayal, she struggled for words to describe her protest at this ordeal. It wasn’t easy. The sheer magnitude of the sin defied any attempt to pin it down. Eventually she gave up, and opted to just say the first thing that came to mind.

“... morning!” she sputtered in horror. “Weekend! Sleep-in!”

“Yes,” Ikuko agreed mercilessly, “it is the morning. Of a beautiful weekend day. And if you’ll look at your clock again, you’ll notice that you have less than half an hour before you need to be at Hino-san’s shrine for your first proper weekend work day.” She hauled Usagi upright, and then bent with surprisingly tenderness to kiss her on the forehead. “Usagi, sweetheart,” she murmured, “I’m _proud_ that you're doing this. Perhaps not so proud of how you _got_ the job, but I do think the responsibility will do you a world of good, and I’m glad you volunteered for it.”

She straightened up again, smiling, as Usagi blinked in surprise. Surprise and the lingering bleariness of sleep. “And because I love you,” she continued, “I'm going to stop you dropping out through laziness. I will show you no more mercy than I showed you when I made sure you passed the tests to get into a good high school! This will look good on your university applications! Should you let this opportunity go to waste because you couldn’t be bothered, I will punish you! Now out! Go! Get dressed and showered and fed, you only have half an hour to get there! Your father will drive you.”

“Dad’s awake?” Usagi managed, dubiously. Ikuko cocked her head, listening carefully.

“Not yet,” she admitted, “but he will be. Now go! Shoo! Oh, and Usagi? Could you pick me up some more hair dye on your way back?” She fingered a blue curl. “I think my roots are starting to show.”

“Uh...” Usagi trawled her memory. “That’s... Number 67, right? Royal Blue?” Mentally, she rolled her eyes. It wasn’t even like blue was her mother’s natural colour, she was just following the fashion trend for it because it was rare and exotic. It was embarrassing to watch, honestly – if she had to dye it, she could at least dye it the colour it had been before it had started to go white. And she hadn't needed to blame Usagi for that, either. Feeling virtuous, Usagi silently she promised herself that she would never stoop so low as to let her life be dictated by such childish whims.

Ikuko sighed. “Royal Blue is #68, Usagi, but at least you remembered the name. Phone me if you can't remember before you buy anything, okay? Now, scoot. You don’t want to be late to meet Hino-san, do you?”

“... eek.”

And so, after a somewhat frantic twenty minutes in which Usagi managed to shower, dress and grab a bento and a snack to eat on the way, she found herself back at Hikawa Shrine, dropped off by a rather tired-looking father. She climed off the back of his moped, and was greeted by a sweet and understanding voice, welcoming her to the sacred sanctuary in warm, dulcet tones.

“You’re late!”

“I am not!” Usagi objected, pouting at Rei and holding her watch up like a talisman to ward off the miko’s wrath. “Look, see! It’s still...” she checked, “seven minutes to!”

Rei put her hands on her hips, glaring. “And when I said ‘we start at seven’, I meant we _start_ at seven!” she snapped. “ _Obviously_ , I meant that you should arrive here with some time to spare... urgh. Just get inside and get changed quickly, we open at nine. And I want to go over the honden completely before then.” She flapped her hands, motioning Usagi inside. “Go, go! Shoo! And call me if you get stuck putting the robes on again, I’m not having you roll around struggling for another ten minutes!”

Usagi retreated into the shrine grumbling. She’d only got stuck once, and that hadn’t been _her_ fault. It was the first time she’d ever put the garments on without help! And she’d forgotten where all the bits were meant to go, and got confused. It was fine for _Rei_ to get mad, she made it look easy, she’d only been wearing them since she was _six_...

After three or four minutes of shedding and donning clothing with this muttering as an accompaniment, Usagi the shrine maiden emerged from the changing room she’d ducked into, her casual clothes loosely folded and stuffed into the backpack she’d brought. She was immediately set upon by her priestly drill instructor, who had been waiting outside the door impatiently, and who bossily adjusted several parts of Usagi’s outfit before she was satisfied.

Actually being a shrine maiden, Usagi had found, was... dull. Well, no. It wasn’t _dull_ – if nothing else, Rei’s company and sharp tongue made it a constant testing ground, where she had to step carefully or risk getting burnt. And the sheer amount of different things they did was mind-boggling. But a lot of the work, especially the behind-the-scenes stuff that didn’t involve visitors, was fairly monotonous.

Like now, cleaning the sanctuary where the kami was enshrined, sweeping the floor, dusting everywhere else, polishing every surface and making a short ritual prayer at the end. The Hikawa Shrine was one of a chain of daughter shrines to the great one in Saitama; all dedicated dwelling places of Susano-o, and apparently it was time to give that dwelling place another round of attention.

It wasn’t exactly glamorous work, to say the least. Still, Usagi knew that moaning would get her nowhere, and she _was_ getting paid for this. So she sucked it up and let her mind wander as she worked along at a fair pace, though she couldn’t help but notice that Rei’s progress was considerably quicker than her own.

Maybe ‘unexpected’ was a better word for it. Yes. A lot about the shrine was unexpected. Rei, obviously. Usagi still hadn’t worked the girl out completely. And Grandpa Hino... well, he was... uh... eccentric, to say the least.

And then there were the crows.

She could see a few now, through the open door. One or two had hopped inside the shrine slightly, though they were staying out of the honden itself. Usagi kept a wary eye on them. She could sense the two spirits when she was looking for them, once Luna had told her they were there. They seemed to be absent today. Despite the fact that she could sense them, though, the converse didn’t seem to be true. Either her alter-ego was _very_ well hidden or they didn’t care about it, because apart from staring at her in the slightly mad, slightly malevolent, slightly-too-intelligent way that all of the crows did, they didn't appear to regard her as interesting unless she had food for them.

One of them – she was fairly sure it was the one that Rei called Phobos – had landed on her head once, after school on Wednesday. But that was mostly to steal her sandwich. Which it had managed successfully, leading to ten increasingly-frustrating minutes chasing it around as it had fluttered from perch to perch with her sandwich in its beak, croaking at her in mocking laughter.

None of the crows had tried anything similar with Rei, and in fact the normal ones tended to give her a wide berth unless she was talking to them. Usagi had a feeling that there may have been one too many singed tail feathers, years ago. Or possibly crows didn’t enjoy being shouted at by the dark-haired girl any more than she did.

“Usagi! You’re slacking!” Rei broke in, snapping the blonde girl out of her thoughts. Whipping her head round, she found the taller girl engaged in busily polishing the metal torch-holders, and stared incredulously. Did the girl have eyes in the back of her head?

“Yes, I can tell,” said Rei, warningly, and Usagi hurriedly got back to work scrubbing the floor, grumbling once again. How did she _always know?_

“And don’t do a half-hearted job, either! I want that floor to sparkle!”

...

“Oh, wow.”

The quiet click of a mobile phone camera was audible over the low hum of chatter from the crows, who were arguing over something again in the distance. “Ha hah. Usagi Tsukino, responsible shrine maiden. This I _had_ to come and see for myself.”

Usagi stoically finished ordering the good luck charms before turning to give Naru the stink-eye. “What are you doing here?” she demanded. “Isn’t it a little out of your way?”

Her irritation only made the redhead’s smirk widen. “I told you,” she said, “I had to see this for myself. Heh...” she broke off for a moment, giggling. “Oh man, I imagined it when you told me, but the reality is so much better. This is _hilarious_.”

“Hilariously inept, maybe,” Rei commented, ducking out from inside the shrine and inserting herself into the conversation. “Who’s this?”

“Ah!” Usagi stepped out of the way, allowing the two girls to size each other up. “Rei, this is Naru-chan... ah, Naru Osaka, my best friend. And Naru, this is R...” she paused, tossing a mischievous glance at Rei, “... Rei- _senpai_ , my evil perfectionist slave-dri- ahh!” She scuttled behind Naru smartly, just barely avoiding a rap with the broom Rei was carrying, and using her friend as a human shield to avoid any more retaliation.

“Hmmph,” sniffed the miko, bringing the improvised weapon back to rest against her shoulder and glancing around. There was one couple wandering arm-in-arm around the grounds of the shrine, and a small group of schoolgirls clustered around her grandfather, who was either selling them something or trying to flirt. Or, more likely, both. She rolled her eyes, but opted to leave him to it until she heard raised voices.

“It’s Rei Hino,” she said, leaning on one of the pillars that stood sentinel at the shrine’s entrance. “So. Did you come here for any other reason, or was it just to laugh at my new ball and chain?

“... hey!” Usagi squeaked, taken off-guard at this sudden turn of the conversation against her. “I’m not... you don’t... what’s that supposed to mean?!”

“If you have to ask...” sighed Rei, rolling her eyes. Turning so that Usagi couldn’t see, she shot Naru a quick grin and a wink. Naru snickered, entirely willing to play along.

“Is she that bad?” she asked sadly, with a disappointed look at her friend, who glared right back at her. Or at least attempted to. It came off as more of a betrayed pout.

Entirely mindful of Usagi’s indignant glare, as well as the subtle underlayer of nervousness beneath it, Rei let the question hang in the air for a moment, pondering. She shook her hair back out of her face as she thought, silky black locks cascading down the back of her robes. “Well, while I’m sure she’s been doing _her_ best,” she replied seriously, “I’m afraid...”

Usagi’s breath hitched, and Rei’s face cracked into a wicked smirk. “Heh. Gotcha. No, she’s been doing acceptably, I suppose. Needs a bit of prodding – well, a _lot_ of prodding, but at least I can set her doing something and not have to worry about her trying to take the initiative and screwing something else up the instant I take my eyes off her.”

“You... argh! Meanie!” Usagi yelled, waving her arms in annoyance at the fake-out. Almost as quickly as the outrage came, it left again, replaced by a faint blush. “Wait... you mean it? I’m doing good?”

Rei shot a slanted glance at her. “You are doing _acceptably_ ,” she corrected. “Somewhat better than most of the girls who’ve tried their hands at this, at least. But don’t let it go to your head. Do you understand? I still want to see improvement from you! Like there! The charms are crooked!”

“So mean...”

“You two are a perfect comedy act, really,” Naru remarked. “But Hino-san was right, I did come here for another reason. You’ve got lunch break coming up soon, right?”

Usagi glanced at Rei, who in turn glanced down at her watch. “Hmm,” she said. “You should have brought lunch with... no, of course you didn’t remember something like that. Well, it’s only half past twelve, but alright, I’ll let you off. We don’t have many people, anyway. I can handle things as long as you get back within an hour or so. And if you’re late, you’re staying later!”

“Awesome!” cheered Naru. “In that case, Usagi, wanna go out to grab something? Because I have a surprise for you.”

“Oh yeah?” Usagi was already divesting herself of various miscellaneous bits and pieces she was carrying. “What’s that, then? A homework guide?” She looked up hopefully, ignoring Rei’s disapproving sniff.

Naru’s grin was smug excitement incarnate. “Even better,” she crowed. “You know that show that’s been advertised lately? The concert, over in Juuban Park, with Mikan Shiratori? Well, Rui-neesan got me _these_.”

Usagi’s eyes widened in awe as Naru flicked two strips of paper out, held between her fingers. “Are those...” she whispered, stretching a hand out as if to confirm that they were real, not some ephemeral illusion made to mock her.

Her friend nodded, smirking all the wider. “Two tickets, courtesy of Rui. Near the front, too. She was going to take me, but she realised she misread the weeks and she has a tournament then. So she just gave me both and told me to find a friend to take. _Man_ , I’m gonna have to find a way to thank her for this.”

“A concert?” Rei raised an inquisitive eyebrow. “I hadn’t heard of this. What is it?”

“... wait, what?” Naru stared at her blankly. “You... you seriously haven’t heard of it? Mikan’s Summer Concert, right here in Juuban?” She paused. “Well, okay, not _here_ , but...”

Rei shrugged. “I may have heard something. But it’s the middle of summer. There are dozens of concerts around this time of year. And my school is only on the edge of Juuban... I suppose I must simply have missed it. Hmm. ‘Mikan Shiratori’ rings a bell, though. Where have I heard that before?”

“Oh, Mikan is awesome!” Usagi beamed. “She’s really pretty, too! She was a student at Juuban High School a few years back! Scholarship, I think, for music. She got scouted by a talent agent right after graduating high school, and now she’s a pop idol!” She clasped her hands to her chest, adopting a dreamy expression. “Ah, I wish I could be so lucky... it’s every girl’s dream for that to happen!”

Naru was looking similarly misty-eyed. Rei was rather less affected. She sniffed dismissively. “If she got a scholarship for music, she must have worked hard and practiced for it. Which means that the same isn’t likely to happen for you,” she stated bluntly, bursting Usagi’s bubble with an almost audible ‘pop’. Then she frowned as something occurred to her. “How do you even know all that, anyway? Wouldn’t she have been... let me see... three years older than you? At least?”

Usagi shrugged. “Three and a half, actually. But I was in junior high at the same time, and I saw her a few times in the hallways. I pick things up easily, I guess. Besides, isn’t it a really cool story?” She paused, then whined resentfully as she belatedly processed the backhanded insult. “Hey! I work hard, too!” She lowered her voice to a grumble, and added, “you and Mama make sure of that. Cruel, imperious slave-drivers.”

Rei favoured her with an exasperated look and an eyeroll. “If you put half... no, a _tenth_ of the effort you put into socialising and slacking off into just getting the work done, you’d probably be a straight-A student,” she said frankly. “It’s not like it’s that hard, if you put your mind to it.”

Two expressions of uncomprehending disbelief met her statement, giving the distinct (and accurate) impression that both girls thought she was crazy for even suggesting such a thing. She rolled her eyes again and waved them off. “Fine, never mind. Go off and have lunch with Osaka-san. But be back by half past one! And don’t get those robes dirty, or you’re washing them!”

...

“... Naru-chan?”

“Huh?” Naru started, looking up from the miso soup she had been staring at and into the wide, concerned blue eyes of her best friend. They sat across from one another in a cozy restaurant booth that shielded them from most of the other customers, nestled up beside a long frosted-glass window. “Oh, hey, Usagi. Sorry, I was miles away. What were you saying?”

Usagi didn’t answer immediately, but scrutinised her for a few more seconds with a worried look. “I’ve been trying to get your attention for almost a minute,” she eventually said. “You were... Naru, are you okay? You’ve been zoning out like that a lot, lately. Ever since...”

She trailed off, looking down at her own meal awkwardly. The unspoken end to the question hung in the air between them like a spectre, filling the silence.

“... yeah,” said Naru, eventually. “Yeah, I’m fine. You don’t need to worry so much, ‘sagi-chan. I won’t pretend I’m not... that it didn’t shake me up a bit, or that I haven’t had some bad dreams about it. But I’m okay, really.”

Usagi gave her a searching look for a few moments longer, but seemed to be satisfied with what she saw, as she nodded grudgingly. “Okay, I guess...” she said. “But... you know you can talk to me, right? About anything. I’ll listen, I promise.”

“I know, Usagi.” Impulsively, Naru shifted around the booth to give Usagi a hug. “Thanks. I guess... I have kind of been out of sorts, haven’t I? It was just a bit of a shock, finding out that things... I mean, that people could do that sort of thing, attacking people like that.” She smiled crookedly. “Actually, I did have another reason to go to your shrine, come to think of it. I might walk you back and pick up some of those ward-off-evil talismans. Just in case, you know?”

Usagi opened her mouth to speak, hesitantly. But she couldn’t find the right words, nothing that would comfort Naru without making it obvious that she knew more than she should. So she closed her mouth again, and hugged her friend back, nodding firmly.

After a few seconds, Naru spoke again, sounding a little less shaky. “Though,” she added, never one to miss a jibe, “I think I’ll get one of the ones your friend did, if it’s all the same to you. I’m not sure I trust your... hey, quit it! You can’t start poking me after being all comforting, that’s cheating!”

“Grr... insulting me so suddenly, and ganging up with Rei-senpai!” Usagi riposted, grinning despite herself at the resurgence of Naru’s spirit, even if it was being channelled into teasing her. “You deserve it! You’re both meanies! Why, I should...”

“Hey!” a new voice broke in. Usagi froze, her eyes widening. Oh no. No, no, no. It _couldn’t_ be, the fates were simply not that cruel. And wasn’t she a shrine maiden now? What wicked, spiteful spirits were choosing her as a target for their mean japes and pranks to have this kind of thing happen?

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed,” continued the voice, “but other people are trying to eat here, so if you could keep it...” It trailed off, just as Usagi turned around and confirmed her worst fears. Just as she’d dreaded, leaning around the side of their booth with his brow creased in annoyance, was...

“ _Meatball head?_ ”

“Jackass!”

Naru briefly forgotten, the pair glared at one another for a moment, before the man’s eyes slid to what she was wearing and he appeared to take in her robes for the first time. His eyes widened, and he brought a hand up to his mouth, choking. If one was very, very generous, they could perhaps have assumed that something he had been eating had gone down the wrong pipe.

Usagi was not feeling generous.

“Stop laughing at me!” she snapped at him, shooting to her feet and taking the offensive. “What are you even doing here? _I’m_ having lunch here, go away!”

“Sorry odangos,” he smirked, “but this is a public restaurant. I’m as entitled to be here as you are, which you’d probably have figured out for yourself if you were thinking straight. But given what you’re wearing, I’m guessing you’re not. What got into your head to make you play at being a shrine maiden?”

“I’m not _playing_ at being a shrine maiden, jerk-face, I _am_ a shrine maiden!” the blonde retorted angrily, her fists clenched by her sides.

That made his eyebrows raise. “You are? Really? Okay, I take it back. What was whoever employed you thinking? Are you using your usual grace and poise to polish the floor with your face?”

“Rrrgh! You’re such a jerk!” Usagi blinked suddenly as a thought struck her. “Wait... you haven’t been gambling lately, have you?” She narrowed her eyes at him as he blinked in confusion, trying to reach out with her senses as Luna had taught her. “Maybe you’re possessed by something, and that’s why you’re so mean all the time!” Scrabbling in her haori pocket for an ofuda, she glared at her nemesis as he snorted.

“Shut up! I’ll purify you, and then you’ll...”

“Ah, Usagi? And... whoever you are?” Naru interrupted. “Fun though this is to watch... some of the staff are looking over at us. Maybe keep it down? Or at least take this outside.” She grinned. “I mean, that’s where street theatre’s meant to go, right?”

“Ahh! No fair, Naru!” Usagi cried, but ceded to wisdom and reluctantly sat back down. “Fine,” she sighed. “I’ll be quiet as long as _he_ goes away and leaves... us... alone...” What started as another glare at the man slipped downwards and became a look of horror.

“W-wait... are those... no!” Usagi’s voice rose abruptly again, and she pointed at the slips of paper poking out of his jacket pocket. “Those can’t be... be...”

“Huh?” He looked down, pulling the slips out. “Oh, these? I don’t know what you’re complaining about, they’re just tickets to...”

“Nooooo!” Usagi moaned. “No fair, no way, I was already going to Mikan’s concert with Naru! You... you’re like my personal bogeyman! Evil! How will I be able to enjoy it now, knowing that you’re there?”

The man started to reply, but a voice from the direction he’d leaned in from called over to them, drawing his attention. Nodding and waving to them, he turned back to the girls.

“Well, it’s been fun, but I’ve got a meal to get back to,” he said with a disarming grin, turning to leave. Looking back over his shoulder as something occurred to him, he added, “Oh, odangos, what shrine do you work at? I might see if I can drop by some time. Maybe donate something to make up for them having to put up with you.”

Showing remarkable foresight, Naru lunged around the booth and caught Usagi around the waist as she lunged forward with murder in her eyes. “Ignore him, ignore him, ignore him,” she sang, until the girl had calmed down somewhat, and only let go once the man was safely out of sight again.

“Wow,” she breathed, relaxing and sliding back to her side of the booth. “That was the jerk you keep complaining about? You told me you two don’t get along, but... wow. I didn’t realise you rubbed each other the wrong way that much. I haven’t seen you so mad since... well, ever.”

Usagi just growled, and Naru diplomatically changed tact. “Well, look at it this way. There are gonna be... what, a thousand people at this concert? Maybe two. The chances of you running into him there are basically zilch, right?

“... I guess,” Usagi conceded, with ill temper. “But I’m still not looking forward to it as much as I was, now that I know that he’s going too.” She pouted. “He’ll be using his evil psychic aura of meanness to leech away my fun!”

...

Across town, the singer and pop idol in question wasn’t looking forward to her upcoming concert at all. In fact, she wasn’t looking forward to much of anything. Mikan Shiratori’s last few struggles stilled as the translucent turquoise liquid hardened into glass around her, encasing her in her bathtub in a crystalline prison.

The tall, bald figure that had entered through her window waited for a few moments to ensure that her unconscious body didn’t react badly to its new cage. If she were to die, this would have become a pointless exercise. But after only a short period of adjustment, the cool, clear hum from the coffin resonated through her glassy body, and she could feel her prey’s slow breathing. The glass would keep the girl slumbering for as long as Derella had use for her.

And she could think of plenty of uses.

A cruel smile slipped across the youma’s gleaming lips as her gleaming skin suddenly dulled and she shed her tattered robe. She shrunk, her long limbs shortening as her mane of hair crawled back up to cover her skull. Her chest thinned, her colour shifted, and her polished, crystal body became softer, warmer. Livelier.

A few seconds later, it was done. A clone of Mikan Shiratori stood naked on the bathroom tiles, staring down at her body double, encased in turquoise glass. The cruel smirk still flitted across her lips, though on her new face it looked strange, almost inhuman. And there were other differences, too. The new one was taller, prettier. Her skin was smooth and flawless, her eyes a touch more vivid, her hair fell naturally into stylish ringlets. 

She turned, briskly, to the lurking shapes that had filtered into the room behind her.

“I will handle the main operation as far as energy-gathering goes,” she stated, caressing the words with her new voice like a gourmet tasting a new delicacy. Her smirk widened. “But I do not think that our troublemaker should get the chance to interfere with it. Scout the area around the previous attacks. Find me somewhere isolated, somewhere we can set up a base. Close enough to human places that we can still attack them, though. There’s no real need to worry about more than cursory secrecy, we want to be found.” She flapped her hands at the lesser youma. “The one who presents me with the attacker’s head will be granted a domain of their own,” she added, to sudden attention from her underlings. “And perhaps a minor title.”

She glanced back at the motionless form encased in the bathtub and grinned, the corners of her mouth pulling back in a snarl to reveal her sparkling white teeth. “We’re going to send our friend an _invitation_ ,” she purred.

...


	8. Two Tickets to Trouble! The Youma’s Trap is Sprung!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Moonrise

With the promise of nearly-front-row tickets to a concert by Mikan Shiratori, the next week couldn’t pass fast enough for Usagi. It seemed to drag by at a rate of inches, like a horrible mean beast filled with school and homework, each second taking hours to tick by.

Finally, though, the weekend came. Indeed, it came upon her with such swiftness that she almost missed half of it passing. She had been pounced on by the busywork of tending to the shrine under Rei. The older miko, sadistic taskmistress that she was, had decided that the huge torii gate at the entrance to the shrine had been getting dirty, not to mention in need of a fresh coat of paint. Thus, she had declared that they would be cleaning, repainting and polishing it until it all but shone a rich, glorious vermilion once more.

Yes, the whole thing.

It was only when Rei had idly commented, halfway through the last coat of varnish, that it was getting late that Usagi had realised what time it was. She barely had ten minutes to meet Naru at their agreed meeting spot, and it was far enough away that she should probably have started changing half an hour in advance. At least Rei had ‘graciously’ let her go on seeing her state of panic.

Which led to her here, and now. Paint stained, still wearing the old clothes they’d been working in because she hadn’t had time to change, her hands covered in... well, in _varnish_ varnish, rather than nail varnish, and her hair streaming out behind her as she all but flew along the street.

“Late late late late late late late!” she chanted desperately, grabbing a lamppost with one hand as she passed it and swinging round it to take the next turn far more sharply than she could have done unassisted. The move also left an oily reddish streak on the metal pole, but Usagi didn’t really care about that, in the state she was in. Pushing herself to eke a little more traction out of her trainers, she glanced down at her watch. Four minutes till she was meant to meet Naru, and she still had to change somehow or at least get her hands clean, and she had to find _some_ way of getting new clothes or she’d be sat nearly-in-the-front-row wearing old _dungarees_ and if Mikan saw her like that she would just _die_...

And then, there was Naru. She was leaning casually against a wall, already looking towards Usagi expectantly. The talisman she had got from the shrine, which she had taken to wearing everywhere, hung around her neck, and she had a satchel slung over her shoulder. As soon as she saw Usagi round the corner at a rate of knots, she unslung it and held it out for Usagi to take as the blonde approached.

Unfortunately, Usagi’s natural grace and balance only really applied while she was panicked and running. As soon as she started to slow down, the pavement rose up with malicious intent and snagged her shoe on an uneven flagstone. And from there, her old foes Gravity and Inertia took over, sending her into a tumbling and rather painful collapse that left her sprawled somewhere in the vicinity of Naru’s feet.

“... you okay?” the redhead asked curiously. She didn’t sound particularly concerned, mostly because she had known Usagi for years. Naru had long-since decided that if she got stressed or worried whenever her somewhat ditzy friend went sprawling, her hair would have turned grey years ago and her blood pressure would be through the roof.

“Jus’ peachy,” came the muffled reply from ground level. “Gimme a mo. S’in th’bag?”

“Clothes. For you. I kind of figured you’d wind up running late with no time to change.” Naru peered down suspiciously. “Though I gotta say, I didn’t count on you managing to... to... Usagi, are your hands painted red? _Why?_ Wait, no, don’t answer that, I don’t want to know. We’ve got half an hour to get there, we’ll just stop somewhere on the way and you can try to wash yourself off a bit before we go in.”

There was a brief pause as Usagi considered this. “... love you, Naru,” she eventually decided, prying her face out of the pavement. “Lifesaver. Really. You are.”

Flattered despite herself, Naru tried for an exasperated eyeroll, though it still looked rather like preening. “Well, you know,” she huffed. “Someone’s gotta look after you. Come on, let’s get moving.”

A quick, furtive stop at a café’s toilets saw Usagi clean and changed, if still somewhat reddish around the hands, and together they started off towards the park the concert was to be held in.

They were halfway there when they stumbled across something new.

“Uh, Naru?” Usagi asked, looking oddly at the large crowd gathered around a shop that she could have sworn was empty last week. “Are... are they queuing for the concert or something? They seem... kind of rowdy.” Indeed, some members of the crowd were actively elbowing people out of the way to get into the shop, and those leaving seemed alternately delighted and blissful. Usagi eyeballed one of them as she and Naru passed, a middle-aged woman cradling what appeared to be a ball of fluff with eyes in her arms and cooing to it. She had to admit, it did look kind of cute...

“Some kind of pet shop?” suggested Naru. “Well, that’s neat and all, but we need to get going, or we’ll Usagi where are you _going?_ Hey! Come back here! Usagi!”

It was too late, though. Her blonde friend – Naru privately ran through several unkind comments about blondes in her privacy of her own head– had already ducked into the mass of bony elbows and barging shoulders, ducking down to squirm towards the façade and see what all the fuss was about. After the second bruised rib, Naru backed off and retreated out of range, muttering angrily to herself.

“Dammit, Usagi, if you make us miss this...”

Inside the scrum of people, Usagi forced her way past _another_ teenage girl – the crowd seemed to largely be made up of kids and parents – and finally made it to the front. Looking through the window, she saw...

... cuteness. Pure, condensed cuteness, of such terrible potency that she squealed before she could stop herself. Naru had been right, it was a pet shop, and the pets were...

... were...

... well, if she were to be honest, she wasn’t entirely sure _what_ they were, but whatever it was, it was _adorable_. The creatures were something like a cross between kittens, baby rabbits, puppies and all other things small, fluffy and huggable. It was almost painfully sweet to look at them. Usagi already wanted one. And from what she could see of the posters in the window, they were going incredibly cheap, too. Almost being given away, which was kind of surprising, really. You didn’t often get businesses flogging their wares like this, at such low prices and to such... large... crowds...

... oh. Well.

Drat.

There was, she realised as she dragged herself out of the fluffy zone of cuteness her mind had been staggering around drunkenly in, a very reasonable chance that this was in fact a youma’s evil energy-draining scheme and that the cute furry things – chanelas, from what it said on the sign – were actually tiny monsters in disguise. And in just a few moments, they’d transform into their full monstrous form and... and start possessing people like the smoke monsters had and making them do bad things! Or turn into huge beasts and go rampaging around breaking stuff and stealing things! Or even make everyone lazy and tired so the things could drink their blood!

... but right now they were still really _cute_ tiny evil monsters! She didn’t want to have to kill things that cute! What would that do to her reputation as a Pretty Sailor Suited Warrior of Love and Justice? No, she would have to be sure before she made any moves in that direction.

Sighing, she edged a little closer to the window – ignoring the not-so-gentle buffeting of the crowd – and closed her eyes, seeking out the focus that Luna had painstakingly clawed into her. She would sense to see if there were any youma inside the shop, she decided, and if there were, she’d...

... the concert would start soon, so she’d...

... well...

... she’d work out what to do then, if it turned out there were youma there, that’s what she’d do. Yeah. That sounded like a good plan.

But when she opened her heart to the world as she’d been taught, the dark mass of corruption she’d come to associate with youma was nowhere to be found. There _was_ a lot of disturbance around her – probably the crowd being all excited – and a sort of low-level haze of malice over the whole shop, but it didn’t seem to have the sickening iron-scent that youma did.

It did seem to be centred on the chanelas, though.

But, then again, she was fairly sure that Luna produced an aura of malice at times. And cruelty. And claws. And Rei! Rei _definitely_ produced an aura of malice – in fact, Usagi should probably check that she wasn’t actually a youma or an evil spirit in disguise, with how evil and cruel-hearted and mean she was sometimes. So maybe the cute little things weren’t _evil_ , just... not very nice animals?

That sounded about right.

And she was fairly sure that if she hung around here any longer, Naru would shoulder her way through the crowd and kill her. Messily. Anyway, she’d cast out her senses, and there were _definitely_ no youma here, so these people weren’t in any actual _danger_. She could always come back and investigate later if she had to. After the concert. She could tell Luna about it when she got home, maybe, and get her cat-mentor to come snoop around with her. It might even get Luna to stop snarking about how she slacked off so much! After all, this was showing initiative, right?

Yes, she decided. It was a bit suspicious, but as long as there was no immediate threat, she’d be better off... uh... maintaining her cover. Naru would get really suspicious if she missed the concert to investigate here, so she almost had an _obligation_ to go. Not to mention that it would be really rude to Naru’s friend, Rui, who had got the tickets for them, to just waste them by skiving off. So she’d go to the concert, and then come back to look at this place... maybe tomorrow night.

Nodding to herself at the clear sense and logic in her decision, Usagi began the long and arduous process of squirming back out of the crowd towards Naru again.

They had a show to get to, after all. It wouldn’t do to be late.

...

Standing back from the torii gate, Rei Hino put her hands on her hips – ignoring the stains this left on the old jeans – and looked upon her work. The pillars shone a rich and vibrant vermilion, as clean and fresh as the day they had been first painted. She gave a satisfied nod, and – after stretching and checking the time – wandered back into the shrine to change. Her work hours were over, though she occasionally hung around the shrine in miko robes even during her time off, on relatively lazy days like this. All her homework was done, as usual, and she had no outstanding chores now that the gate was done.

She paused at the entrance to the shrine to stretch again, squeezing her eyes shut blissfully as she arched her spine and felt a couple of pops as the kinks came out. It felt _good_ to have that done, it had been nagging at her for almost two months now, but she hadn’t been able to tackle it until now. It was really a two-person job if she wanted it finished in one day, so as not to have to leave it overnight without varnishing. Usagi, slacker that she was sometimes (or most times she wasn't watched like a... well, a crow) was the first apprentice miko she trusted enough to tackle it.

Her thoughts wandered to the blonde as she changed out of the paint-stained clothes, scrubbed her hands clean, and after a few moments of deliberation selected jeans and a t-shirt over her red and white robes. The sense of irritation at a standing task – and the triumph of a big job completed – was one that few people seemed to understand, Usagi least of all. Rei was willing to bet that _she_ wasn’t up to date in whatever homework she had from school. And yet, it wasn’t _laziness_ , not quite. She was perfectly – well, alright, relatively – willing to help when prodded a bit and occasionally shouted at, and once she _did_ apply herself to a job, she got it done. If she didn’t, Rei wouldn’t have trusted her with repainting the gate.

And yet those flashes of focus seemed completely undisciplined, pointed more towards trivial pursuits, gossip and recreation than anything that yielded concrete, lasting accomplishments. Like video games, or this concert. Circular things that produced nothing, honed no real-life skills, and required no real effort. Of course, such things had their place – oh, she had plans for this evening, oh yes she did – but that place was not dominating one’s entire life. Rei shook her head in a mix of dismissal and exasperation at Usagi’s flightiness.

... still, Usagi _had_ seemed _awfully_ complimentary about that singer. And while watching a concert didn’t take much work, Rei was well aware that performing in one definitely did. Maybe she could just... stroll along and see if there were any tickets left. Just to see what kind of music was so appealing to her new hire... and maybe find something to tease her about, if it was the kind of sappy romantic stuff that the younger girl probably enjoyed.

Hmm. Wait. When had Usagi said her birthday was? She wasn’t sure. But _mentally_ she was certainly younger, so it still counted.

A brief consultation with her mobile phone located the concert, down in Juuban Park. It was a fair distance away, perhaps half an hour’s walk, but she was in no particular hurry. It was a beautiful afternoon, with summer on the wane as August began. The sky was a clear, darkening blue streaked through with clouds like shelves of slate that drifted low on the horizon. They flanked the sun to her right as she started off down towards Azabu-Juuban, a red-orange crucible amidst the haze of iron as it dipped down to touch the earth. Rei strolled along at a comfortable pace, content for the moment to drink in the evening as it drew in.

She was startled rather abruptly from this peaceful reverie about ten minutes into her walk, as a motorcycle whizzed past her at speeds that she was pretty sure were above the speed limit (and if they weren’t, they should be), and close enough past her that she could see the tufts of short blonde hair sticking out from under the rider’s helmet. Her shriek of outrage drew a raised hand of apology as the bike sped off into the distance, but nothing more.

“Maniac!” she yelled after it furiously. “Speeder! Are you trying to run someone down, you... huh?”

She blinked, her attention sliding from the receding form of the biker to a shop a little ahead of her. Visually, it wasn’t much to look at – it seemed to be just closing up, with only a few people browsing inside. To her spiritual senses, though – the ones that painted the world with more than the flat, monochrome shades other people saw – it exuded a faint but unmistakable odour of malice. Rei was a priestess, and one with some real power, though she knew not many believed in such things. Still, she knew the scent of spiritual corruption. She’d performed several genuine purifications in the past, and she could tell the difference between human malice and the malevolence of spirits or other things beyond mere mortal ken.

And this shop stank of the latter.

Rei hesitated, torn. On the one hand, the shop was closing, and the thought of breaking in to investigate was... off-putting, to say the least. But on the other hand, allowing an evil presence to set up roots in her neighbourhood without at least some effort to combat it was even less appealing. She couldn’t just do _nothing_.

Pursing her lips, she pulled a hairtie out of her pocket, left over from the painting, and quickly pulled her hair back into a loose ponytail. That would at least make her less recognisable if anyone saw her. Then, eyes narrowed, she circled around the block until she found an alley leading between the two rows of storefronts, and slid down it, looking for the back of the shop. It wasn’t difficult to identify which one it was, not with the itchy feeling of menace permeating out from the building like a thin mist.

To her mild surprise, the staff entrance door was unlocked, albeit surrounded by the kind of rubbish that begged for a skip – indeed, it was hanging open and missing the top hinge. There didn’t seem to be anyone hanging around, so she slipped inside quietly, taking care not to trip on the junk that was scattered around the narrow corridors of the staff area. Which... as she looked closer, wasn’t just ordinary junk. Some of it looked very much out of place, and other bits...

Glancing both ways quickly and keeping an ear out for any movement nearby, Rei crouched down and sorted through a heap lying next to an office door. There were bits of shelves here, along with shattered glass and chunks of plaster. A swivel chair missing the lower half of its stand was leaning next to a door marked ‘storeroom’, and she recalled seeing a desk in the small yard-space outside. There was even half a cash register, the money still inside – and from a quick glance, she guessed there must be at least ten thousand yen in it, perhaps more. Why would someone just dump all of this in the back rooms? It was as if the store had been gutted and refurbished, with the garbage left over afterwards tossed carelessly out of sight and given no further thought. What would possess someone to do something like that?

A cat yowled somewhere nearby and something clattered in the yard outside. Rei nearly jumped out of her skin. The sudden sounds brought her back to her senses, though, and she realised that she’d been drifting off into thought – not a safe thing to do in the middle of a suspicious place like this. What she _should_ do now, she knew, was leave, go back home, tell her grandfather of her suspicions and perhaps inform the police.

Her gaze drifted to the door marked ‘storeroom’.

... well, maybe she could go inform the police later. After checking out one more thing. After all, if whoever was doing this didn’t care about money, didn’t it make sense to find out why they were selling things? From the look she’d got through the window, they were little rabbit-cat-puppy things. So what were they, and more importantly, why were they being sold?

Steeling her nerve, she edged up to the storeroom door, and opened it, darting inside and closing it behind her with care not to alert anyone via the noise. Only when it had clicked softly closed did she turn around to take a look at the room she’d snuck into.

Five hundred pairs of beady red eyes stared back.

It took every muscle in her body tensing, but Rei somehow managed to suppress the scream. Up-close, the little creatures didn’t look nearly as cute as they had done from a distance. They were stacked up in cages all along the walls – and that was another strange thing, the cages were tiny. Barely big enough for the things to sit in. Yet there was no restlessness, no apparent discomfort with the tiny living space they were provided. They just sat there, perfectly still, watching her.

Rei swallowed. This was... this was incredibly creepy, if she were to be honest. And now that she was this close, she could tell that the aura of malice she’d sensed was coming from the creatures themselves. They were clearly unnatural, and she could feel the tugging of a compulsion to find them sweet – one which only made them more disturbing to one who could sense it. Her hand strayed to her pocket... but no, she was in her normal clothes, not miko attire. She had no charms or talismans on her, and she didn’t dare risk the noise that smashing cages would produce.

... she had a notepad, though. And a pen.

A quick and hasty minute of scribbling later, and she had an ofuda. Well, something approximating one. It was written in biro on notepad paper, and wouldn’t be nearly as potent as the ones back at the shrine – which, she promised herself, she would never henceforth leave home without – but she could still feel the faint thrum of her spiritual energy within the lines of the kanji etched on it in bold, sure strokes.

It wasn’t much. But it would have to be enough.

She scowled at the little monsters. “Whatever you are,” she promised them darkly, levelling a finger at them threateningly, “and whatever this place is for, I will find out. And once I do, I will see _all_ of you horrible little things destroyed. But for now, I’ll have to content myself with putting just you lot out of action.”

Snapping her wrist to straighten out the charm, she held it between her fingers as she faced down the plague of vermin. _Now_ they began to move, shuffling away from Rei as if they knew what the paper held threateningly in her hand represented for them. But in their cages they were too cramped and contained to get away, and a righteous smirk curved her lips as she drew her arm back to cast it at them.

And a voice spoke up from the doorway behind her.

‘Well now,’ it gravelled. ‘What _do_ we have here?’

...

Juuban Park was a large, roughly rectangular area of about five acres, nestled in the city sprawl with a view of Tokyo Tower rising over the roofs to the northeast. The concert stage had been set up just in front of the lake that occupied the park’s centre, in a clear spot away from the trees. Rows of seats sat in front of it, along with open areas further back for the standing attendees.

There was quite a crowd gathered already. The advertising for the show had been widespread, and Mikan Shiratori was at the peak of her popularity. There were rumours she would be debuting a new single or two tonight as well, and eager anticipation rippled through the waiting ranks of fans. Nor was she the only singer on the cards – there were several other idols and a few bands lined up to perform, with a cut of the proceeds going to charity.

The genre didn’t appeal to everyone, however. The throngs were mostly youthful, teenagers and young adults come to have a good time and dance to the fast-paced beats of pop and light rock. The tickets had still sold out fast, though, and more money was still being made as vendors offered food and trinkets to the concert-goers, hawking their wares as part of the background chorus that marked an upbeat, excited crowd.

One person wasn’t able to share in the generally cheerful mood. Mamoru Chiba hovered near the lake shore, on the forward edge of the crowd. He and his friends hadn’t gone to their seats yet, not with ten minutes yet to go before things got started. Leaning against the pole of a convenient signpost, he stared off into space across the lake, seeing-without-seeing the graceful arcs of the fountain at its centre. He should have been cheerful, happy. He would be turning nineteen tomorrow, after all, and this was supposed to be a celebratory party in his honour.

But he couldn’t muster up the energy to be enthusiastic, despite the occasion. His mind was stuck on darker things. Like the black-outs.

They’d been happening for two or three weeks now, once every two or three nights. He’d be doing something – usually in the evening or early morning, hanging around his flat or working on coursework – and then he’d have a fit of... something. It wasn’t exactly a headache; there was no pain. Just the terrifying feeling of something _expanding_ inside his head, something that blotted him out just by its presence. His vision would blur, his balance would fail, and then...

... and then he would wake up, back in his apartment. Hours later, usually, and with no memory of the missing time. He was fairly sure he wasn’t just passing out, because he was rarely where he had been when the fit came on – often on the bed or a chair. But he’d asked around subtly, and he wasn’t leaving the building, either.

It was beginning to scare him. But what was he supposed to tell a doctor, if he went to one? He’d done some research online, and he couldn’t find anything that caused the kind of symptoms he was experiencing. The lack of any pain, the memory blackouts without leaving his apartment or simply collapsing... it seemed to be unique. He couldn’t even predict when they would happen.

His apartment had picked up a faint scent of flowers, too. One that he definitely wasn’t responsible for. He’d first noticed it about a week after the first fit. But what could flowers have to do with a mental illness? Or, as he considered in the more spine-chilling trains of thought he’d been on recently, a brain tumour of some kind. It was a frightening possibility. Maybe he should get checked up? Maybe...

“Hey. Hey, Mamoru, are you in there? Earth to planet Chiba, are you reading me?”

“Huh?” He turned, jolted out of his reverie. It was Motoki, a teasing smile on his face.

“Come on, Chiba,” he prodded. “For the birthday boy, you’re being pretty glum and gloomy. Lighten up a bit! And hurry up, we’re heading to our seats now. The concert kicks off in a few minutes.”

“Yeah... sure. Coming.” Mamoru pushed himself off from his support and followed after his friend. There were five or six of them here, most of the others holding beers. They laughed and joked with him and each other as they strolled down to their seats, and he did his best to play along and act in kind. There was little sense in worrying them, after all.

Out of the corner of his eye, a long blonde hair streamer caught his attention, and he rolled his eyes. It figured meatball head would show up here – though then again, verbal jousting matches with her did tend to raise his spirits somewhat. Still, he wasn’t interested in having one here and now, and she was some distance from him anyway. She also had a reddish tint to her hands, which prompted a faint smirk on his part. He’d be willing to bet the klutz had tripped and fallen onto wet paint, or something similar. It might be fun to suggest such if they wound up sitting nearby each other.

They didn’t, though. She went off to somewhere near the front, while Mamoru and his friends were right on the edge of the seats, over on the far right of the rows. Still, it gave a decent view of the stage and the lake behind it, so he wasn’t too upset with the placement. Settling into his seat and stealing some popcorn from Motoki, he watched disinterestedly as the presenter ran through the usual trite opening announcements, before deferring to Mikan Shiratori herself.

The singer stepped on stage with a sensual strut and a smug smirk. Brown hair cascaded down her back in a carefully styled mane of ringlets, and she moved with a smooth and flowing grace as she walked up to snatch the microphone from the man.

The hairs on the back of Mamoru’s neck began to prickle.

‘I’m _so_ glad to see you all here,’ Shiratori purred, green eyes sweeping over the gathered masses. ‘It is so very encouraging to see that we can gather people together for a common cause with such ease. Truly, it buoys my spirit.’

The smirk widened, and on the big screens to either side of the stage, Mamoru could see her eyes glitter as if at some private joke. His hands were itching now, and he became aware of a very faint tremor in his arms, the kind he got just before a big exam or a brewing fight with one of the drunken idiots that sometimes started posturing in the student bars.

‘But before we start,’ Mikan continued, ‘I want to hear the audience! I can feel the energy of this crowd from here, you all seem very happy to be here! Are you ready for tonight?’

A roar from the crowd, eager to follow along with her prompts. Mamoru barely heard them, swaying dizzily in his seat. There was... there was something. Something... important. Something he needed. Or was it something he _was_ needed for? He wasn’t sure. His head felt over-full, thick and slow, like it was filled with syrup or liquid metal. A heady warmth battered his mind, sinking into his bones and thoughts like the baking heat of a sauna. He could feel... it was... this was familiar, somehow. He just couldn’t remember how, or why, or...

... alone. He had to get away from the people, be alone. He didn’t know why, but he had to. Muttering an excuse to Motoki and the others, he heaved himself to his feet, ignoring their questions as he nearly tripped over himself. He heard talking in the distance as he stumbled away towards the toilets, staggering like a drunkard in his dizziness.

‘Well, that was certainly pretty loud,’ said... someone. A woman, he vaguely thought. ‘But I’m still not convinced. Just how enthusiastic are you all? How much do you _really_ want to see this concert?’

Another roar shook the crowd. Mamoru’s instincts were screaming at him now, as he half knelt, half collapsed behind a bush. Even through the haze of fog and treacle that was his mind and the alien strength welling up from his bones that cut through it, his skin prickled as he heard the woman’s next words.

‘Excellent. Lots of energy here, ripe for the harvest. And since you’re all so _very_ willing to be here...’ The cruel smirk was almost audible now, as was the tone of sadistic, menacing pleasure in the honeyed tones. The crowd began to murmur uneasily, but Mamoru could have told them – were he not groaning and clutching his head in distress – that it was already far too late.

‘... I’m sure you won’t mind if I _take_ it.’

A sudden gale seemed to whip through the park; unseen and immaterial, ripping strength from limbs and breath from lungs. Screams died in their owners throats, attempts to run turned into sprawling, twitching falls, and the standing and seated audience began dropping like flies, comatose bodies littering the ground like refuse. Over it all, the cackling laughter of the woman rang out, as delighted as it was insane.

Mamoru felt the foreign strength within him solidify one last time, forming a shield around his heart that gave no more ground before the vampiric wind than did a continent before a wavelet. It held itself there for a brief moment, strangely reassuring despite its unfamiliarity.

Then it surged upwards like a mountain exploding from a pebble, and he knew no more.

...


	9. A Showdown on Stage? Moonrise over Tokyo!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Moonrise

“Halt!”

The cry rang through the howling, unseen gale, and the thing wearing Mikan Shiratori’s face stopping laughing. Her eyes narrowed dangerously, seeking out the source of the command.

She didn’t have to look far. Golden hair streaming out behind her, Sailor Moon leapt out of the crowd and up onto the stage in one bound, pointing an accusatory finger. “You!” she shouted. “How dare you ruin a concert like this! No one came here to listen to you! Stop what you’re doing and surrender now; you’re hurting these people!” The leeching wind whipped around her to no effect, unable to gain any purchase.

The false Mikan noticed the girl was already reaching for her tiara, in much the same way a samurai would go for his sword, or a gunslinger his pistols. And while the human looked laughable and utterly unsuited to confront a chevalier like her, something about the gleam of the metal adorning the girl’s forehead made it seem like an incredibly bad idea to let her get her hands on it.

The youma snapped her fingers, and a thin spike of glass rocketed across the stage. There was no warning, no charge-up time. Just a quick lashing out that produced a bolt of razor-sharp blue-green glass which crossed the distance between them in an eye-blink, aimed directly at the insolent girl’s heart.

It slammed home less than a centimetre to one side of the broach the girl wore on her chest, sending Moon stumbling back from the force of the impact. She fell over in surprise, shattered splinters tinkling down onto the floor around her. Her hand went to her chest even as she gasped for breath.

But there was no wound in her chest, no fragments of glass piercing her organs to suck the lifeblood from her veins. The bolt hadn’t even broken the leotard. For a moment, it was hard to tell who was more surprised, the false Mikan or Sailor Moon.

Then Moon squeaked in fear as the youma snarled and let fly with a flurry of spikes, blades and bolts. Scrambling to her feet, she ran for the back of the stage, ducking, tripping and stumbling in a clumsy weave that somehow avoided the worst of the barrage. Those projectiles that did manage to strike broke harmlessly against her leotard and skin, leaving painful welts but little else.

“Insolent swine!” the youma screamed. A glass disc passed close enough to Moon’s face that she could see her reflection in it, shocked and pale and wide-eyed at the lethal intent being thrown at her. Its partner missed by bare centimetres, and she rolled behind a set of speakers just in time for a volley of needles to thud into their surface, rattling inside as they tore the innards to pieces.

She grasped the tiara with shaking hands, her breath coming in deep gasps. Once. Twice. Thrice. The youma had stopped throwing things, she could hear it moving across the stage. Trying to get a better shot at her.

Okay then. She should go... now.

Moon rolled out from behind the speakers and darted right to avoid the glass spike that whipped out to meet her. She was expecting it, and already adjusting her aim as she dodged, bringing the tiara round to hurl at the...

... the...

... person, with flushed skin and fraying hair and furious eyes and this wasn’t anything like attacking a dried up corpse or a scary scaled monster, she looked just like Mikan and what if that _was_ Mikan and she was possessed or something, and if Moon threw the tiara at her she was really killing an innocent whose body was being controlled against her will, and...

The tiara soared off on a far-too-wide arc, missing by more than a bodylength and sailing out over the crowd. It began to curve back to her hand, but too slow, far too slow. The youma-Mikan grinned viciously and threw again. It wasn’t a bolt or a knife this time, it was a _spear_ , sharp and huge and lethal. Frozen in uncertainty, Moon watched death approach on glinting glass wings.

And shatter.

Blue-green shards went everywhere as something met the spear head-on in flight and broke it down its length. The youma-Mikan managed to dodge as the projectile flashed past her, but three more drilled into the stage around her feet. Roses, sunk deep into the wooden boards.

They burst upwards in furious growth before she could react. In seconds, her legs were snarled in a hopeless tangle of thorny stems, and her struggles did nothing but draw further blood. She snarled and thrashed uselessly as the vines wrapped around her waist and caught her arms, as the stems rose up to the height of her chest and buds appeared along the twining greenery. One by one, they opened; beautiful red roses the size of a fist.

And then, as the tiara whirred back and slammed into Moon’s hand with reassuring force, they exploded.

Every piece of the blue-green glass in sight flashed brilliant turquoise for a second and dissolved into dust as the blast rang out. The howling soul-wind faltered and faded, and Moon turned delightedly to the tall figure of Tuxedo Mask standing behind her, arm still outstretched from the thrown roses. His eyes were concealed as always by the half-mask, but he gave her a faint smirk and a shallow bow.

“Fear not, Sailor Moon,” he said firmly. “Your compassion does you credit. But look beyond the monster’s disguise to the cruel heart within, and strike without hesitation.”

“Tuxedo Mask!” she beamed in relief. “What...”

‘ _You!_ ’

Tuxedo Mask’s cane snapped up, parrying a spinning disk of glass that would otherwise have taken his head off. It ricocheted off into one of the metal supports holding up the top of the stage, went clean through it, and continued out over the lake. Both Moon and Mask’s attention snapped back to the matter at hand. The fight was not yet over.

The sight revealed as the smoke from the explosion cleared was not for the faint of heart. The visage of Mikan Shiratori had been destroyed. Now, visible under the charred, sloughed-off skin was the gleaming crystal surface of the youma that had worn her face. The last remnants of the disguise crumbled even as they watched; the spell that had sustained it dispelled in the blast.

Slitted red eyes set in a skull-like face of polished turquoise regarded the pair with hateful malice as the youma stood up. And then further up. It was a lot taller now that the false-flesh it had been wearing was unmade – taller than any human by at least a head’s worth. Moon stepped back uncertainly, and Tuxedo Mask shifted his weight in readiness for an attack.

But it didn’t lunge. It spoke.

‘First, I am going to rip out your hearts,’ it spat at them through a mouth like a shark’s. ‘And then I shall paint your blood all over the trees.’ Its arm bulged and warped, lengthening and reshaping until it was tipped with a long, jagged spike of crystal that looked like the bastard offspring of a scorpion’s tail and a particularly vicious thorn branch.

It moved with unnatural swiftness, lashing forward with the brutish appendage. The arm stretched out like a whip, growing to at least twice the length of the youma’s own body as it slammed into the stageboards where Sailor Moon had been standing with a crash and a spray of splinters. ‘Had been’ was the operative phrase, because she was already moving as it shot out. A powerful jump straight upwards took her up into the mess of scaffolding that held up the top of the podium, and she vanished behind the glare of one of the stage lights.

Snarling, the youma turned on Tuxedo Mask. But he was already fading back into the shadows, deflecting the jab it sent his way with a swirl of his cape. A rose speared through the curtain at the back of the stage, forcing the youma to deflect it with a panicked yelp. It lashed out at the spot with its whip-arm, but a crack of cane against glass had it pulling it back again just as quickly. Up above, Moon looked down on the exchange and racked her brains for a plan.

Her eyes cut right, to the blindingly bright spotlights pointed down to illuminate the centre stage. Yes. That would work.

Picking her spot carefully, she crept over to the light as Tuxedo Mask continued to harass the youma from hiding – a rose here, a cane blow there. The curtain at the back of the stage was soon almost gone, leaving nowhere for him to hide, but that was okay. She only needed one shot. Reaching the light, she aimed carefully, squinting against the glare. Then she threw.

Gold hummed through the air. The faint sound was all that saved the youma’s life. Whirling away from the exchange with Tuxedo Mask – the distraction – it brought up its bulky, whip-like arm to block the death bearing down on it from above. Coming directly down the beam of one of the stage lights, the glowing tiara was all but invisible – had it not been for the whir of metal through air, it would have been a killing blow. Instead, it struck the monster’s arm full on, and deflected.

Moon gasped in dismay. Neither of the youma she had fought before had been able to do that. The tiara had never failed to slice through whatever it hit, be it hair, limb or even steel. But while it left a deep and painful-looking gash on this glassy monster, it failed to cut the arm off. What was worse, it was caught in a spray of the youma’s blood, a sticky, clear liquid that knocked it to the ground and hardened around it as the wound closed slowly. It wasn’t healed, not by a long shot – the scar would be hideous – but Moon could tell just by looking that she wasn’t getting her tiara back anytime soon.

The impact wrenched a scream from the monster, a horrible sound like metal on glass. It dropped to one knee, then looked up. The crimson glow in its eyes was brighter than ever, the malice and hate almost sickening to see. ‘You!’ it shrieked. ‘Moon-witch, I know you! You reek of that horrid power. I’ll take your head!’

Its injured arm spasmed briefly, and it bared its teeth. ‘Serfs!’ it called out to the sky. ‘Heed me! Come to my aid! Come to me!’ It batted aside another rose and leapt to avoid another – Moon couldn’t see where they had come from, but it retaliated with a mighty blow from its whip-arm. The injury didn’t seem to hinder it as the thing uncoiled and struck with a crunch of crumpling metal, and Moon felt the stage lurch sideways.

Then it turned to look up at her. Or at least, into the light. Backing away hastily, Moon dived for the cover of the next spotlight even as a lance splintered the one she’d been standing in front of seconds before. She landed hard on her stomach and forced herself up again quickly, expecting another.

It didn’t come. Instead, abruptly, the entire stage lurched sideways again. Moon screamed, grabbing onto a rail for support, then tentatively craned down to see what had happened.

She was just in time to see the youma slice through the third support column.

‘Hiding up there, silver-witch?’ the youma taunted. ‘Afraid to fight me? Afraid to act on your own?’ Another crunch. Another gut-wrenching lurch. ‘Then perhaps I should make it simpler for you!’

It raised its other hand towards the crowd, and made a series of arcane gestures. And to her horror, Moon felt the air stir with a wind that went beyond the physical. The soul-flensing gale began to build again, picking up speed as it built, tugging life force mercilessly from the masses of unconscious concert-goers.

Wide-eyed and horrified, she was totally unprepared for the next bone-jarring jolt as the youma cut the last support column. With a thundering crash, the stage roof dropped, the mass of metal and plastic hitting the stage hard enough to break clean through it in places. Moon landed in an ungainly heap, cracking her head painfully against the floor.

When she had enough wits about her to look up, the youma was standing in front of her. Up close, it was even more grotesque. A maw full of needle-sharp teeth split the skeletal face in a shark’s grin, and it raised the viciously barbed whip-arm to strike. Moon couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think.

Black and red velvet swirled in front of her, and the report of cane on glass rang out again. Tuxedo Mask, dropping in as if from nowhere to block. The slim rod held against the bulky spike without strain, keeping it from moving an inch further. From behind the half-mask, the man glared stubbornly. His cape was torn in a couple of places from the collapse of the stage, and there were marks of impacts on his suit. Nonetheless, he stood firm.

But the youma didn’t scowl, or scream, or snarl. It smirked, horribly.

Then it opened its mouth and spat.

A spiderweb spray of gooey strands enveloped him – too close and too fast for him to dodge or block. He whirled away immediately, but it only made the effect worse – it followed him, keeping up the spray as he grew more and more entangled. The strands grew and spread, hardening as they went. They crept across his chest and up his arms, caressed his face and anchored his feet to the ground. Within ten seconds, he was hopelessly caught. Within another five, he was nothing but a hazy outline within a solid block of glass.

The youma inspected its work with the air of a connoisseur. Peering closely at the glass, it frowned in confusion.

‘Odd...’ it muttered. Moon looked up dully, dazed at the sudden loss of her ally and protector. She’d always been able to count on Tuxedo Mask being the cavalry, arriving whenever she was in true danger to get her out of it. Now... now he was trapped, and they were both in mortal peril. He wasn’t dead, at least – she could just about see him still moving in the glass, struggling at a snail’s pace towards the edge as if mired in treacle or tar. But neither was he able to aid her.

‘Never seen that before,’ the youma mused, sounding more relaxed now that one of its opponents was out of action. The wind howled, and Moon realised with horror that the wound she’d inflicted was healing faster. It had already shrunk to half its size, and was visibly knitting back together. The youma caught her expression and leered.

‘Most of the energy goes to my lord, yes? But what he doesn’t know will not hurt me. And... oh, I suppose this means you can’t hurt me without them suffering further.’ It nodded its head at the motionless forms littering the ground in front of the stage, and chuckled. The sound was harsh and grating, and utterly without humour. ‘Make no mistake, Moon-swine. I _will_ drain them dry if you strike me again. But I suppose it doesn’t matter, really.’

A thud came from behind it. A dark shape, distorted and monstrous, had landed behind it. Another touched down, and another. With each arrival, the rank taste of iron and corruption in the air grew stronger still.

The cavalry had arrived. But not the kind she’d been hoping for.

...

The stench of iron wafted through the air, whipped to frenzy by the leeching wind. Dark shapes loomed on the shattered stage, casting long shadows in the rays of the setting sun. In the twilight murk, their silhouettes seemed to shift and sway, stretching to far greater sizes as they milled around behind their leader. A column of smoke was rising from beyond the edge of the park, and the faint smell of burning wood and metal laced through that of the youma themselves.

Sailor Moon looked around at them hopelessly. Her thoughts felt stilted and slow, knocked off balance by shock and fear. So when her eyes settled on the liquid coating the claws of one of the closer monsters and dripping down onto the wooden floor, it took her a few moments to realise what it was.

Blood.

A chill went through her at that. This monster, this youma, had hurt somebody. Recently. And other people were being hurt right now, by the wind. The leader youma was speaking, its harsh tones sounding amused and condescending as its arm wound knitted together, healing to leave only an off-coloured scar. But Moon wasn’t really hearing it now. The tar that had marred her thoughts even as Tuxedo Mask had been caught was clearing away as she looked around. Looked to the left.

The still forms were everywhere. Most were slumped helplessly in their seats, a few were sprawled out over the ground where they’d managed to get a few steps before dropping. She could see them, their pale faces, their blue lips, the shallow rise and fall of their chests – getting shallower and more sporadic with every breath. Naru was somewhere in that crowd, she knew. Tuxedo Mask was still trapped, barely visible inside his glass coffin – moving, but too slow, too slow to get free before it was too late. Her tiara was lost under the debris of the roof, still cemented to a piece of stage flooring by the youma’s resin-like blood.

She was alone. Outnumbered. Without allies, without weapons, without hope.

But her people were dying.

Her friends were dying.

The thought was like ice and fire in her veins, lightning along steeled nerves. She couldn’t lie down and give up and die here. It seemed hard – it seemed impossible. But she _couldn’t_.

And, she realised suddenly, it wasn’t just because the thought made her inner Rei belt her around the head. She didn’t _want_ to give up. She didn’t _want_ to lie down. The situation might seem hopeless, but – deep down past the shock and the terror – she didn’t feel it. There was something else down there, rising up with the dawning clarity of thought, growing and expanding like lava bursting up the throat of a volcano.

_Anger_.

It was like a veil had dropped away from her gaze, lighting up the world in shades that made everything simple. She was not going to die. She was going to live. She was going to save everyone. She was going to _punish_ the monsters who had done this, and send them whimpering back to where they’d come from.

Before her, the glass abomination approached. She could feel it now in more detail than sight allowed, a snarled, corrupted spirit riddled through with iron veins stalking towards her. Its wound had finished sealing, and it drew back its barbed whip-arm as it approached. It said something, denigrating and insulting no doubt, directed at her lack of response. She still knelt on the stage where she had fallen, her head bowed and her eyes half-closed.

But not in defeat.

In the weeks prior, Sailor Moon had called on her powers to heal the possessed and corrupted, to drive off evil spirits and lend aid to the injured. But the energy from the suffering concert-goers was gone – she could feel it going still, sucked into a void at the heart of the youma leader to who-knew-where. People were on the brink of death for its lack, their hearts stuttering, their breath slowing. She needed to replace it. Not a purification of a few possessions, or a repelling of a single youma. She needed more.

Far, far more.

She reached within herself. Down into depths her instincts screamed at her to avoid. People were dying – her _friends_ were dying – and so she pushed herself to reach deeper into the source of her power than she’d ever needed to before.

And from the silent depths of her soul, something reached back.

Painted against the darkening shades of dusk, the flash of silver was briefly visible from space. It eclipsed the lights of the city completely, but it didn’t blind or sear. Rather, it _etched_ itself into all that it touched, like ink on the fabric of the very world.

What remained of the back of the stage was blown clean off and the debris littering the stage around Sailor Moon’s kneeling form was vaporised, leaving her in a perfect, unmarred circle. Her tiara glowed - first silver, then white, before shattering to reveal a blazing crescent moon beneath.

The soul-stealing wind was snuffed out in an instant and the glass trapping Tuxedo Mask dissolved. The lesser youma disintegrated, falling apart into iron dust and sand. The leader was knocked off its feet, contorting in agony as ugly smoke billowed off it like a burning torch.

Centred in the ring of clear space, Moon stood.

A mandala backed her, shining with a soft white light that clung to every inch of her. Below it, a silver crescent moon hung with its points turned heavenwards, embellishments and offshoots spreading from it in a glorious display.

The light rippled across the halo as she turned to the crowd, lost in the sensation of the power flowing through her. They stirred slightly as the light provided some measure of succour from the effects of their draining.

Behind her, the youma struggled to its feet. It skin was cracking in the light, hairline fractures covering every visible inch of it and spreading further with every movement. Its eyes were screwed shut, and it hissed with every painful, gruelling step it took. But nevertheless, inch by painful inch, it started to make its way towards Moon’s unaware silhouette. A splintered, broken dagger glinted in its hand, no less deadly for the damage to it.

“People of Tokyo!” Moon called, and the echoes carried her voice to every person there, as crystal-clear as though she were standing beside them. “My name is Sailor Moon!”

She took a breath as hundreds of confused and blinking eyes turned upwards. This much attention was... scary. But she persevered. “You were attacked just now, by a monster. A real one,” she said, more quietly now, though still audible to every listening spectator. “I’m... I’m new at this. I’m not very good at it, and I don’t know how well I can do. But I have powers, so... so I have a responsibility to use them. I will try my best to keep you safe! I am Sailor Moon, and I stand for Love and Justice! And I promise you, I will-”

She got no further, as the broken dagger slammed into her back through the middle of the halo’s central ring. The results were instant and explosive. Moon screamed, falling forward onto one arm and lashing back blindly with the other. The halo itself rang like a bell – a thunderous sound that echoed through the park – and a plume of silver erupted from it. The youma was engulfed; a match before a flamethrower, and the gout of power continued out over the lake. The water beneath it frothed and bubbled madly, crystallising into a thin layer of clear diamond.

The coruscating light wreathed the halo itself, as well. The pure, serene harmony it had initially shown was gone, and now white arcs of light crackled along the lines of silver as its aura fluctuated wildly. Moon trembled where she knelt on one hand and her knees, gingerly feeling her back where the dagger had struck. There was a wound there, for sure. She couldn’t tell how deep it was, but blood was soaking into the fabric of her uniform.

Also, it hurt. A lot. She whimpered at the spikes of agony that stabbed into her with every breath and movement. It hurt. It hurt it hurt it _hurt_ , and it wouldn’t stop hurting. Her fingers scrabbled at the broken wood of the stage, curling into shaking fists as she tried to bear down on the pain and make it recede.

She failed. Still, she managed to drag her attention away from the hot-cold-sharp-blunt pain spreading across her back. At least enough to look upwards and out, at the audience. At the people unable to stand, shaking, weak and feeble from the energy that had been drained from them. A little girl in the front row caught her eye, wearing a Mikan t-shirt. She couldn’t have been much older than twelve. Now she was lying on the ground and barely breathing. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Naru, trying and failing to hold herself upright with the aid of a chair.

This was wrong.

For the second time, Moon stood. She stood slower this time, levering herself upright on a broken spar of wood as the white light crackled across her halo. But nonetheless, she stood. And cupping her hands together, she poured her emotions into them; all of her compassion, concern and righteous anger at what had been done to these people. A mote of light appeared between her hands, first just a spark, then growing brighter and brighter until it was as if she held a fragment of the sun between her palms, with rays of light bursting out between her fingers.

“Be well,” she whispered.

With no incantation or intention save to heal the hurts that had been suffered, she opened her palms.

And there was light.

Silver filled the park. For a timeless moment, she was all of them. She was young, and she was old. She was male, she was female. She was protector and protected, injured and healer both. She was with them, within them, enveloping and energising them.

She was with the old man on a bench beside the lake, healing his failing heart and re-kindling the light of his soul.

She held the hand of the little boy in the third row, soothing his scraped knee and replacing the energy taken from him.

She touched a woman near the back of the crowd, and felt the cancer barely beginning in her chest, and excised it, along with the exhaustion.

She hovered over Naru and tenderly embraced her, resetting a broken finger and breathing life back into shuddering lungs.

She replaced all that had been stolen, and then drew back into herself.

Or tried to.

She couldn’t stop.

She couldn’t stop the power.

She couldn’t stop, couldn’t control it, couldn’t shut off the flow. She was healing everything, everyone, everywhere; the people, the bugs, the grass, the soil. Her power was even changing the bacteria in people’s bodies, changing them so they wouldn’t hurt their hosts and they would get to live too and she was them as well and could feel each and every tiny song. It was too much. Far too much. The cacophony of sensation and power was overwhelming, overbearing and utterly impossible to keep up with. She tried to draw back, to make it go away, to bring it under control, to make it _stop_ , but she couldn’t, and it kept increasing, and there was nothing she could do except...

Blackness came, and warm arms holding her, and then nothing.

...

_She dreamt._

_Arms encircled her, holding her close. They were warm and strong, and she felt safe in their protection. The rest of the details came slowly. She wore an elegant white gown that trailed low to the ground. It was a stark contrast against the black, gold-trimmed armour of her companion and the silk whispered soft across the man’s ceremonial breastplate as she clung to him._

_“Endymion,” she whispered, her voice at once an order and a plea. The arms around her tightened, and she looked up. The face above her was_

__... a stranger’s, dark-skinned and unfamiliar, and yet it sent a pang of recognition through her for reasons she couldn’t quite...

_handsome, and sent a ripple of guilty pleasure through her. It was framed against the inside of a distant crystal dome, which stretched across a black sky speckled with stars._

_He drew away from her a little and looked deep into her eyes. His expression was that of a man looking upon a goddess, and his lips barely moved in reply. “Serenity,” he breathed, and she_

__... frowned, because that wasn’t her name, was it? Her name was...

_sighed happily as she melted into him once more. A faint wind rustled through the garden they stood in. It faded into her awareness with sudden detail; the lush trees whose boughs hung low with decorations, the secluded privacy the orchard provided. The structures were carved from flawless crystal – artfully rough like crushed-glass-granite in the dry walls that cut the garden into sections, smooth and polished and frosted opaque in the high parapets of the palace._

_“You look breathtaking, my princess,” he murmured, and she blushed. “Brighter and more beautiful than all the stars in the sky.”_

_“Oh, Endymion.” She swooned slightly, but straightened again as a thought occurred to her. “You weren’t followed here?”_

_He chuckled, low and soft. “I managed to slip my keepers for the night. And this recluse is wonderfully private. We won’t be disturbed here, my sweet.”_

_“Wonderful,” she breathed in relief. “It’s been so long since I last saw you.” It had been hard, enduring the months without him, and she_

__... should have gone to find him, surely? Why would she just sit around without trying to fix things, shouldn’t she be...

_had been hard pressed not to let on to anyone what she felt. “I was worried...” she continued, haltingly, “that... perhaps you might have found somebody else. Forgotten me. I am so very far away, after all, and our...”_

_“Serenity,” he whispered again, like one dying of thirst being offered sweet water. “I would never. I_ could _never feel that way for another, not after knowing you. My love I promise to you and only you, never to wither or fade. Undying and untarnished, for all eternity.”_

_She gasped in delight and awe, her eyes widening. It was_

__... incredibly romantic! That was the sort of confession she’d always dreamed...

_forbidden, her mother would be furious with her for even being here, and yet she couldn’t bring herself to care about the consequences. Reaching up deliberately, she unbuckled his cape, wrapped her arms around him, and brought her lips up to meet his._

_“Our love,” she whispered in agreement as she drew back. “Forever. No matter what.”_

_The rest of the evening was not spent silent. But no words followed those, as the lovers treasured what time they had together._

...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Image by [Shyft9](http://shyft9.deviantart.com/)


	10. Interlude - Fire and Embers

‘Well now,’ a voice gravelled. ‘What _do_ we have here?’

The speaker was not human. Rei was aware of _that_ the instant it began to speak. Corruption and malice flared behind her, far stronger and more overpowering than the faint trace that she had sensed from outside the building. She could taste the reek of rust and filth in the air, the oily feeling against her skin like ten thousand invisible spiders. A throbbing headache burst to life behind her left eyeball.

More of the tainted presences burst into life elsewhere in the building – two, then six, then ten, finally stabilising at a dozen or so. They had been veiled from her sight and her senses, but evidently the time for subtlety had passed.

This was a trap, and she had walked right into it.

‘I think we...’ continued the gravelly tones, like a heavy boulder grinding across stone. And then it stopped, partly out of surprise at the speed at which Rei had spun towards it, but mostly because her improvised ofuda had just hit it in the forehead.

Rei caught a split-second glimpse of a rock-like carapace and craggy, wind-worn features. Then the scribbled biro characters glowed a blinding red as they reacted to the corruption within the monster, and its head ignited like a cotton ball soaked in paraffin.

Rei watched wide-eyed as the monster screamed and flailed, beating at itself to try and douse the flames. All that accomplished was to spread them to its hands, and it staggered away down the corridor towards the door she’d come in through, clawing at its face and body as the flames ate into it voraciously. She... she had never had _that_ happen before. Sure, she’d banished a few evil spirits, but only ever with the proper chants and rituals and with her grandfather leading her. He’d always stressed that even the smallest wicked spirit was a cunning and dangerous foe, to be treated with fear and full preparation and certainly not something which was vulnerable to, say, a single improvised ofuda. And those evil spirits had certainly never caught _fire_.

But there was no time to think about what it might mean. She hastily took advantage of the brief, stunned silence to slam the door shut and lock it. Then she cast around the room desperately. It was mostly bare but for the cages, whose occupants now followed her every movement with their eerie red stares. But just behind the door was a desk. It was cheap and tacky, the kind of plywood-and-hollow-tubing kind that were mass-assembled and which fell apart after a few years, but to Rei in that moment it was a godsend. She dragged it in front of the door and threw her weight against it for added measure, then scrabbled in the single drawer for anything that she could use.

A bang against the door kicked against her hard as her hand closed around what felt like a marker pen. She gritted her teeth and put all her weight into holding the door closed as another impact hammered against it. The pen _was_ a marker, yes. Excellent. Shifting her weight to get a hand free while still bracing the door, she began to sketch broad lines straight onto the wood of the door.

It took an interminably long minute to draw out ward – first the circle, cross-tined and divided into segments, then the kanji circling it and finally those within. Before she was even halfway through, her stomach and knees were weak with terror, wondering why on earth they weren’t doing anything. They weren’t trying to break down the door or... or anything, though she could hear footsteps outside. 

There were a lot of footsteps. And voices. They weren’t human voices. But they were speaking to her and she could understand what they were saying. The torrent of abuse was tinged with a sick gloating note.

‘ _Your fear tastes great!_ ’ ‘ _How long do you think you’ll last?_ ’ ‘ _Weak! Weak, you’re a weak little feeler, aren’t you!_ ’ ‘ _Stupid little human, messing with her superiors! No one messes with the harvest and lives!_ ’

Why weren’t they coming in? What were they waiting for? Were they trying to keep her pinned up or... or were they already in here, waiting for her to get more and more scared? Were they just playing with her? Her hands were shaking more and more, and she could taste blood in her mouth from where she was biting her lip.

‘That’s all of us? Apart from Pebbla?”

‘Yeah, the human got ‘em good. Remember, boss says a duc wants the head, so keep it intact. On the count of three! One, two, three!’

She knew she’d got it right when the first blow against the door triggered a loud crack and a scream, accompanied by the smell of burnt flesh. She grinned viciously, the yelling and cursing from outside the door burning away some of her fear.

Then her grin faded rapidly as she remembered the window. Hesitating only a moment, she spun around and jumped across the room, trusting the seal on the door to hold. The window was small and poky, looking out onto the yard she’d come in through, but it was big enough – just about – for a body to fit through. For a moment, as she crossed the room, she debated crawling out through it and making a run for it. Surely, the monsters wouldn’t dare follow her out where they might be seen?

That plan lasted right up until she reached the grimy, smog-smeared glass and saw that the yard was on fire. The debris crackled and spat as the flames licked at it; broken chairs and shattered desks burning merrily. Somewhere in the middle of the bonfire and the column of smoke it was giving off, she could just about make out the shape of a weakly flailing figure.

Oh. Well.

Drat.

From the way the flames were licking languidly over even the concrete and metal, she had a feeling it was burning off the taint of the monsters that had been around them, not just the physical objects themselves. Either way, she didn’t feel confident in walking through it – long experience tending the sacred flame had taught her that seeing visions in it didn’t make her any more fireproof than anyone else.

On the plus side, there was nobody coming in that way, either.

‘Kheee!’ ‘Kheee!’ ‘Kheee!’

Behind her, the chanela began making a racket. One by one, their tiny shrieking calls rose up, clamouring. More voices joined the first few, until the din was almost deafening. Rei turned and growled at them, wincing and covering her ears. Why hadn’t she shut them up when she’d had the chance?

It wasn’t until all of them were clawing at the bars of their cages and shrieking at the top of their tiny lungs that she realised what they were doing. It was the mouths that gave them away, gaping, gasping, as if desperately trying to breathe while drowning. The faint tugs at her own aura were barely strong enough to sense, but sense them she did, in a cold, quenching horror.

It wasn’t air they were inhaling. It was energy. And that meant...

She lunged for the door. Towards the ward draw on it, sketchy and improvised, which was barely enough even to keep the monsters back when it was at full power. Drained by the hungry mouths of several hundred chanela, it stood no chance. Unless she could...

But she was too late to get there and reinforce it in time. Barely was she halfway across the room when the door exploded inwards, sending the desk clattering across the floor. A muscled blue-scaled shape filled her vision for a moment before sharp claws dug a deep gash in her arm, and forced a cry of pain from her. Then an impact to her sternum lifted her up and threw her into a wall, and consciousness fled from her entirely.

...

She drifted between consciousness and slumber, less than half-aware. It was dark, she was fairly sure. Her eyes wouldn’t focus. Her head and arm and stomach hurt. She could hear voices, arguing, somewhere close.

_‘... do with her?’_

_‘...be angry if we don’t...’_

_‘Well we can’t let her...’_

_‘... now. Here, I’ll-’_

_‘No! That’s a waste of energy!’_

_‘Then what?’_

_‘Just leave her for the chanela. They’ll drain her dry, and we can...’_

_‘... do with the husk once they’re done?’_

_‘... take it out into the...’_

_‘... who put you in charge, Iguara?’_

_‘Want to fight about it, or would you rather I...’_

_‘... think this is the...’_

_‘... cares? You two, guard the...’_

They didn’t make much sense, though.

Something tugged at her from within. An uncomfortable leeching feeling, like the air was being sucked out of her body and however much she breathed, it never gave her lungs the relief they cried out for. Her mind felt violated by warm and fuzzy sensations that thrust themselves upon her unwanted, trying to make her adore the things which were tearing her apart bit by bit. The strength sapped out of her muscles, and a bone-deep weakness and weariness settled over her like a suffocating blanket.

It was almost a relief when she grew too weak to keep herself aware any longer.

...

The chanela were in a full-blown feeding frenzy. They screamed and shrieked as they fed, sucking rivulets of life energy from the prone form left limp and lifeless in the middle of their storeroom. Unconscious, she was defenceless against the violation. Her breathing slowed, quiet shallow gasps for air almost unheard under the noise of the monsters. Sweat beaded on her cold, clammy skin and her heartbeat grew fainter and weaker.

But the hunger of the chanela wasn’t sated. It could never be sated. More and more they drew, feasting on the banquet that had been laid before them, urged on by the competition from their kin. They consumed all that she had to offer, drinking until her soul was dry.

And yet still they smelt more. It wasn’t bubbling within her like that which they had just consumed had been, though. This energy – a treasure trove of it – was different. It felt contained, constrained, sealed away. But so _much_ of it! If her life force before had been a banquet, this was more food than they had seen in the entirety of their short lives. Driven on by insatiable hunger, they threw themselves into attaining it.

Rei was at death’s door from the draining. Her heartbeat was slow and erratic. Her breathing was barely noticeable, her skin so pale that every vein was visible.

Lying there, she started to convulse, the random spasms of a body gasping for everything, anything which might allow it a few more seconds of life. Her heels beat a staccato rhythm on the ground. Her fingers clawed with their last strength against smooth tiles, and found no purchase.

There was no mercy from the chanela. They had not the capacity for it, nor the inclination. This was not the first person who had been locked in their room, fed to them by the monsters which wore the shapes of men.

Her heart stopped beating.

And then something inside her snapped. A dam shattered, a levee broke, a wall crumbled.

The last air in her lungs wheezed out in a rattle. And ignited.

The girl, too weak to stand, rose to her feet as if pulled upright by unseen strings. Fire danced and played around her, forming strange shapes which glared with incandescent eyes at the white-furred monsters around them.

A thin howl echoed around the room; the scream of something ancient and hungry. The air became rarefied, bitterly thin and freezing, and the tiling and cage bars near her slumped-over form began to sublimate like rock corroded by a sandstorm.

Rei Hino looked up from the ground, with eyes that were holes into an inferno within. Around her, the chanela burst into flame like petrol-soaked rags thrown onto a bonfire. Their screams added to the unearthly howl that was steadily growing in volume around her.

Dreamlike, her head turned, and the gimlet stare fixed on the door just as it opened. One of the youma left to guard her peered in, its face twisted into a snarl of annoyance.

It was the last mistake it ever made.

A sudden rush of air blew past him into the depressurised space, and encountered an environment in which almost everything was on fire. The bodies of the chanela were burning more fiercely than any natural fuel, fed by the stolen energy of those they had drained. The burst of oxygen met the flames and fanned them, turning the many-coloured conflagration into a fireball. The explosion of flame and superheated gas headed straight back down the only channel it had open to it, and the plume of fire took the guard full in the chest. Its silhouette was visible for an instant; a dark shape engulfed in fire and fury, and then it was gone.

The small window blew out explosively, flames pouring out to meet the guttering embers in the yard. Revived by a sudden flux of potent fuel, they roared into life again, lapping at the walls. Inside, the rush of air had also spread the flames around the room. Now rivulets of fire ran across the walls and tongues of flame lapped at the ceiling. There was nothing left of the bodies of the chanela, but the life force they had stored within them ran hot and furious through the blaze in streaks of colour of every tint imaginable, urging it to consume everything in its path, flammable or not.

At the centre of the developing inferno, the body of Rei Hino stood calmly. There was no will behind her actions; nobody at home behind her burning gaze. Nevertheless, she stood with apparent purpose as her clothes smouldered and charred before falling away entirely. Her skin looked soot-blackened underneath them, and beads of flame dripped from her like sweat. Barefoot, she drifted towards the door. Where she trod, the ground hissed and dissolved, scoured away into dust that tore itself into nothingness. She left a trail of broken footprints behind her, the wood combusting around the holes left in the floorboards.

She ignored the way the fire was spreading upwards and outwards, into the upper storeys and the shop proper. A crashing sound behind her as she left the room announced the support beams in the ceiling giving way, and the conflagration rushed hungrily upwards into the first floor to devour what it found there. Her eyes, however, were on the shape retreating from her down the corridor, into the front of the shop. The second guard.

She seemed to flow as she walked after it, as though she were barely touching the ground that cracked and crumbled beneath her tread. A mantle of fire followed her, tendrils of flame running horizontally along the walls in her wake like greedy fingers. She trailed a hand along the wall as she walked, and the plaster sublimated away at her touch, leaving a deep gouge in the wall that deepened further behind her as the drywall behind it was eaten away. Rust-red dust trickled down from the burning ceiling, the upward convection currents from the firestorm twirling it madly through the air.

The inferno behind her eyes flared as she stepped out into the wide space of the storefront, and every chanela in the cages lit up like fuel-drenched torches as they met her gaze. The sudden, synchronised combustion drew a scream from the fleeing youma. Eyes darting from left to right, it found itself surrounded by a labyrinth of fire. Desperately, with a panic akin to hunger in its violence, it sought an escape.

The vaguely serpentine blue-scaled woman ducked under a rack of falling cages that were wreathed in multi-coloured flames, the metal bars disintegrating even as it tumbled to the floor. Skin ablaze, she screamed and made a diving leap for the window. The burning gaze of the girl swept towards her, but too late; the youma crashed through in her desperate flight. Another rush of oxygen surged in to replenish what had been consumed by the fires and the thinning air that Rei was carrying with her.

The resultant explosion burst every window in the storefront, and the fireball that billowed out from them made the tarmac in front of the store boil and bubble beneath it.

The building was well and truly a lost cause now, with flames eating at its structure both inside and out. Fire alarms were starting to go off in the neighbouring shops, but their ringing was lost on the naked silhouette that emerged from the clouds of smoke that were streaming from the shattered shop façade. Her skin was charcoal-black and her eyes were tiny suns that burned in a placid face. Cinders fell from her hair and left a trail of ash behind her, and the touch of her feet ate away at the pavement, leaving ragged pits and potholes wherever she trod.

The youma lay some twenty yards away, motionless. Knocked out, perhaps, by the force of the blast. Implacable, she advanced on it.

But within a few steps, it was clear that the youma would not be getting back up again, and that it hadn’t been the blast that had felled it. Lodged through its eye, pinning it to the street, was a flowering white lily, whose petals opened even as the girl watched. She blinked blearily, her awareness beginning to return as the raging inferno within her receded.

Movement caught her eye, and she looked up into the point of an arrow, drawn and aimed between her eyes. The silver mask behind it was ornately patterned and solid, a curved sheet of metal devoid of any human features.

“Who are you?” it demanded in a cold whisper. “ _What_ are you?”

Rei – yes, that was her name, she had to remember that – couldn’t answer. She couldn’t answer anything, because the exhaustion she’d felt dragging her down into death was catching up with her again. It was no longer the cold tug of mortality, merely a bone-deep ache, highlighted here and there by light burns where the flames had licked at her skin but centred mostly in her chest. She felt sore and bruised down to the core, as if something big and strong had kicked her in the chest. Like a horse. Or maybe a train.

“Ungh...” she coughed weakly, tasting blood, and blackness roared up to engulf her.

...

Rei Hino woke to the sound of dripping. It was cool and dark, wherever she was, and the air had the slightly claustrophobic taste she associated with ‘underground’, as well as a sickly-sweet scent she didn’t recognise.

There was a dim light source nearby, not so bright as to hurt her blurry vision, but enough to throw a sodium-tinted pallor onto the dank walls of the... tunnel? No, it was a chamber that she lay in, round and surprisingly dry, given the faint sounds of water she could hear from all around. The unfamiliar ceiling was elaborately carved, like it was from some forgotten temple, but there was something disquieting about it that seemed grown rather than built.

Flowers grew from the walls, white lilies that seemed to glow softly in the meagre artificial light they soaked up. They carpeted the floor as well, apart from a circle a few metres across in which she lay. Two tunnels led away into darkness on one far wall, and the floor in front of them was flooded by a large pool, its waters dark and still. It was into there that the water dripping from the ceiling fell, collecting on a jagged spur that jutted a few centimetres out from the rock and falling in fat, heavy droplets.

Rubbing her aching head and trying not to breathe too deeply, Rei slowly sat up and looked around. She had been lying on a plain and somewhat ratty futon on the edge of the circle of flowers, which had a dented camping heater set up next to it, set high enough to turn the cold air into something that was merely ‘pleasantly cool’. A rough line of battered cardboard boxes formed a circle along the rest of the edge of the clear space, with the occasional dustbin or old suitcase mingled in with them. Rei gasped when she saw the head-sized object lying on a damp cardboard box, but with a second look she realised it was a metal helmet, inset with strange lenses that sparkled in the dimness.

In the middle of the circle, she saw the lamp that was the only source of light; a wind-up thing that gave off a yellow-orange glare like the streetlamps on the older back roads. It sat on a low table, next to a heavy-looking padlocked box and something oval and black that was covered in faintly glinting geometric lines that reminded her of circuitry.

Behind the table sat a fold-up chair. And on it sat a figure.

The lantern was between her and them, and a carefully draped cloth over the side facing away from her meant that she was the only one illuminated. With the light pointed only in her direction, she could see no more than a rough silhouette and the vaguest of details. The solid, full-face mask she vaguely remembered from before she’d passed out was staring at her, impossible to get a read off. She couldn’t even tell how big the figure was, or what gender. The shadows seemed to cling to them, and what the darkness didn’t hide, the clothing more than made up for. A dull grey robe swathed them, the mask glinting beneath the hood. It fell open enough at the chest to reveal black-flecked silver scales overlaid layer on layer in a mail-like armoured breastplate. It put Rei in mind of a samurai’s armour. A silent, stoic knight.

“I was worried you weren’t going to survive, for a while,” the figure whispered, raising one silver-armoured finger to where their lips would be. The quiet tones seemed to bounce and echo around the chamber, reflecting off the walls and coming at Rei from all angles. The chaotic web of sounds, along with the tonelessness of the whisper in general, prevented any attempt at analysing it. Young, old, male, female... it was impossible to tell. Which, she thought wryly, was probably the point. She couldn’t place the accent, either. There was something about it which was unfamiliar, but the way the stranger spoke sounded too smooth to be anything but a native.

It was probably also meant to be intimidating, but she was rather too annoyed for that to have a hope of working.

“Well, I did,” she stated crossly, and immediately winced as her unintentionally loud tones reverberated through the chamber like an auger, crashing around and building themselves into a crazed cacophony of meaningless noise before slowly fading away. It redoubled the pounding in her head, and she cringed, clutching at it gingerly. Apparently there was more than one reason her rescuer was whispering.

“... I did,” she continued in a harsh whisper once the echoes had died away completely. “And I’m getting sick of fai- of passing out. Who are you? What happened? And where are we, anyway?” She looked around again, taking in the stone walls damp with condensation and the two dark passages leading off from the chamber from the far wall. “Are we somewhere in the subway system? It looks pretty fancy for that.” Her heartbeat sped up as the evil spirit igniting before her eyes flashed through her memory. “The... the demon-spirit-monster... they...”

“Don’t worry about them. There weren’t any left in the shop once I killed that last one and as for the rest...” The masked figure fell silent briefly. “... they’re gone,” they concluded in a final sort of way. “And no. This isn’t the subway. Well, it is sort of one, but not one you’re familiar with. We’re a long, long way from anywhere you’re familiar with. This is the Whisperquick. A place untouched by silence.” The figure shifted slightly, almost awkwardly. “I brought you down here to help you recover, as well as to get you away from prying eyes. You nearly died, going beyond yourself like that.”

Rei frowned, puzzled. “Going beyond...” She winced and lowered her voice again. “Look, who _are_ you?” She coughed thickly, rubbing her aching chest. A thought struck her and her eyes widened. “Wait, are... are you the Sailor Moon from the papers?” There had been a monster dead when she’d walked out... hadn’t there? She didn’t remember much. Just... hollowness. Emptiness inside, and heat around her, and a sort of drifting until she came back to herself on the road.

“...” responded the figure. They seemed to fold in on themself a little, and an awkward silence fell as Rei tried and failed to get a read on what they were thinking behind the mask. Eventually, the silver plate shook slowly. “No,” came the mournful whisper. “A shadow of the moon, perhaps. A moon eclipsed a long time ago. But not her.”

A cold breeze ghosted across the chamber, raising goosebumps on Rei’s skin even under the blanket. Which, she abruptly realised, was the only thing she was wearing. She squeaked with surprise, sending another volley of echoes bouncing around the cavern, pulled it tighter around herself and looked up indignantly. “My... I’m naked! Where are my clothes?! Did you...” she lapsed into another round of coughing, hacking up something foul-tasting that she instinctively spat out onto the dark, grimy floor. Then promptly winced at the cacophony of echoes her outburst had produced.

The figure was already shaking its head hastily, waving its hands in denial. “No, no no no no no. That wasn’t me. They burnt off you in the fire. I almost shot you, actually; you looked like another youma when you walked out of the smoke. Which... it looks like you breathed in. You’re hurt.” They hunched in on themselves in the folding chair, pulling their knees up to their chin. Rei could not help but be reminded of a small child huddled up in solitary misery by that movement, though the figure was clearly too old for such a thing.

The chair creaked in protest at the move, old metal caked with rust, and it belatedly occurred to Rei that hardly anything down here looked as though it hadn’t come out of a dumpster. Not only that, but the little circle of furniture looked altogether too much like an attempt at a bedroom, despite the fact that it was in an underground chamber somewhere. Did this person _live_ down here, in these cold dark echoing tunnels? Had she been kidnapped by some mythical figure who... who was living rough in some kind of mythological subway system?

She opened her mouth to ask, but the figure was already speaking again, their whisper a little more ragged than it had been. “It took me a while to recognise you, you know,” they admitted. “You don’t look at all like you used to. I mean, I guess I should have expected that, but I hadn’t really thought about it. I was expecting you to look just the same, but... you’re not. And neither is anyone else.”

Rei blinked at this, thrown off kilter by the nugget of information. “You... know me?”

The figure sighed. “Sort of? Not really. I mean, I did, but you won’t remember anymore. That life is all gone now.” It shifted again, hugged its knees harder. “Everything’s gone now. Everything’s _wrong_. This age of iron, it’s nothing like it should be. I mean, not just like it _should_ be, with how everyone’s crippled and walking around asleep and how none of the wonders are here, but I think it’s not even how _it_ should be.” They shook their head viciously, trembling. “I... I need to keep her safe because if she dies it all happens again and I can’t let that happen, but she’s just a child and... and I don’t know enough. There are things that should be happening that aren’t, and... and things that shouldn’t be happening that are, and I don’t know _why_ but I’m scared it might be my fault somehow, except some of it _can’t_ be my fault because... and I was going to ask you about it, but... but you’re not awake yet either, are you? That’s why you didn’t transform.”

Now Rei was the one shifting uneasily. She was beginning to get the uncomfortable feeling that she was stuck underground somewhere with no clothes on, with a crazy person babbling at her and with no idea how to get out. And while there were a good number of things she still wanted answers to, she was more than a little wary of asking this stranger who claimed to know her for them. Especially given that they’d almost shot her once already, by their own admission and her own hazy memories of looking down an arrow from the wrong end.

Who even used a bow and arrows in this day and age, anyway?

“L-look,” she stammered hoarsely, her teeth chattering slightly. The heater was helping, but now that she was the sitting up and the initial confusion had worn off, she couldn’t help but notice that she was really rather cold. She coughed again, several wracking coughs that shook her body and left her mouth tasting vile and her throat feeling sandpapered. The figure was right about the smoke inhalation, if nothing else. She probably needed to see a doctor once she was out of here. “Can I... what do I call you, anyway?”

A half-hearted shrug. “Moonshadow,” the figure whispered dully. “It’s as good as any other. I’m not who I was anymore, so my old name doesn’t matter.”

“... right. Moonshadow. I think I’d... like to go home now.” She braced herself, just in case the suggestion of parting company set the stranger off somehow. But Moonshadow just sighed and nodded, looking down at the ground.

“Alright. This was... was a bad idea anyway, I think. I just wanted to see you, but you’re not you and it’s all gone wrong again. It always does.” The silver mask turned back up towards her. “Do you want a drink before you go? It should help with the coughing.” They fumbled in one of the boxes and produced an assortment of bottles, which Rei eyed dubiously. Not only was she wary of anything that came out of a cardboard box that looked as though it had been dragged through an entire subway system to get here, the bottles were also almost schizophrenic in their variety. She couldn’t even recognise the alphabets on half of them, and those she could make out were a dizzying mix from all over the world.

Eventually, when it became clear that she wasn’t going to be leaving without accepting at least one, she hesitantly notched the blanket tighter around herself and tentatively chose a soft drink she recognised as being Japanese, on the basis that it probably hadn’t gone stale or bad since Moonshadow had obtained it, unlike the ones from different countries. The eerie blank stare from behind the mask bored into her as she cracked the top open and took a few sips, before setting it carefully down again.

“Okay,” she forced out with a shaky smile. “Thank you very much for the drink and the, uh... rescue from the fire, I guess. I’d like to... go home now... though...” She yawned, her eyelids suddenly heavy, and blinked rapidly. It was an effort to keep her eyes open, and her thoughts were hazy and muddied. As light slowly dawned on her, she stared accusingly at Moonshadow, words rising to numb lips but failing to make it all the way past them.

“When you see her and you know what I’m talking about,” the masked figure said, “you have to make sure she stays alive. You’ll know. You always knew.”

...

“Ahh!”

She came awake suddenly, thrashing sideways on the tiles and scything her head into a folded towel. She froze for a moment as her other senses kicked in. She was warm, lying on tiles, the air was steamy and the ceiling looked...

... familiar. Calming down somewhat, Rei sat up. She was in her bathroom, at home. Alone. The furo was full, steam drifting off the surface, and a quick glance over at the door showed it locked from the inside.

Had it been a dream?

... no. Her hair smelt of smoke, she still had soot caked onto her body, and something of the sickly-sweet scent of the flowers from the chamber still clung to her. Now that she looked, there was one lying on the towel that had been beside her; its white petals looking oddly pale and washed out in the bright light of the room.

She felt better, though. A _lot_ better, actually, her headache was gone and her chest barely hurt at all. The minor burns she’d suffered were little more than itchy red patches, as if she’d experienced some very unusual sunburn, and her breathing was more or less normal, if still a little raspy.

Somehow, she doubted that a few sips of a sugary drink had done that.

She sat on the floor for a few minutes, stewing in confusion and annoyance – and no small amount of fear. None of that had made sense. Evil spirits had tried to... to kill her, then something which escaped her memory had happened, and then some half-sane – spirit? God? – well, _person_ had talked at her like they knew her. Now she was back in her own bathroom, with no memory of how she’d got here.

Should she talk to her grandfather about it? She really should, but... but it was all so crazy that... that she didn’t know what she should do.

Eventually, though, she groaned in frustration and swiped at the air, brushing away the questions and their lack of answers. Whoever – or whatever – the stranger had been, they were gone now. How they’d managed to get her into her own bathroom and then lock the door from the inside – not to mention known where it was in the first place – was a cause for concern, but nothing they’d done had been anything less than benevolent. Creepy, perhaps, but they hadn’t come off as a _threat_ , except during that initial staring match down the shaft of an arrow.

Well, not a threat to _her_ , anyway. She could still remember the monster – the youma, had Moonshadow called it? – lying on the ground with a hole that went clean through its head. But she was too tired to care, at the moment. She was half-asleep, lying here on the floor, with a peculiar calmness suffusing her. She wanted to have a bath, and then go to bed, and then go through the next week or so without anything weird or terrifying happening. Perhaps then she could forget the moment when the evil spirit had caught fire, or those inhuman voices coming through the door, or... or the terrible feeling of being left in that room and slowly eaten from the inside out by the chanelas.

Though she would probably have to go and see exactly what had happened to the pet store. She didn’t remember much after she’d been knocked out, but fire was certainly a large part of what she did recall. She hoped nobody had been hurt, aside from the monsters. And when she was feeling better, she was going to go prepare as many defences against wicked spirits as she knew. And then research some more.

Distracted by her thoughts, and exhausted from the trials and stresses of the day, she didn’t notice the tiny pieces of ice in the steaming water as they melted away into nothing.

...


	11. Usagi has Homework? Silence in the Library!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A Test of Courage

The morning sun shone down on a wan, wet Monday morning for Tokyo. And in one schoolgirl’s room in particular, it illuminated an argument. It was rather earlier in the day than this particular room usually heard any sound save snoring, which perhaps excused the ill temper of one of its occupants.

“I don’t _know_ what happened after that, okay? Rrrgh!”

Despite her grouching and the duvet that she’d dragged off the bed to swaddle herself in, Usagi booted up her laptop, and drummed her fingers impatiently as she waited for it to finish turning on. “Besides,” she continued, “I’m still all achy and hurty. Can’t this wait until later?”

‘It’s waited a day already,’ Luna said stiffly. ‘So no. It can’t. Now hurry up, I want to know what happened after you blacked out, and you’re already barely going to get to school on-time.’

Usagi blinked. “Uh, Luna? Half my year was at that concert. And if I’m anything to judge by, they spent most of yesterday in hospital and still feel awful. And I wasn’t that badly off. The paramedics were more worried about Naru than me.” She shivered. “So was her mum. She was scary-level mad.”

Luna raised an impatient eyebrow. ‘Do you have a point with this?’

“Yeah.” Usagi gestured at the duvet she had wrapped around herself and the bags under her eyes. “You think anyone else will be feeling any better than I do? They can’t run classes when half the year is at home sick. I bet school is cancelled today.” She crowed in victory as her internet connected, and quickly browsed to the school website. “Let’s see... ha! Yes! Told you so! School’s officially out today!”

“What’s that, dear?” The door opened and Luna vanished behind the desk as Ikuko leaned in. “What are you cheering about? And you’re up early, so clearly you’re feeling better. Maybe you should get dressed so you don’t have to rush out of the house for once.”

“Uh...” Usagi pointed at the laptop screen. “School’s out! Most of my year was at the concert, so they’ve suspended classes till we’re better!”

Ikuko gave her a hard stare. “Is school _cancelled_ , or do you just not have to go? Because if there are classes on, you’re going, young lady. You’re not that badly off.” Usagi raised an eyebrow at this, given the maternal hysterics that had been waiting for her the previous morning when she’d finally escaped the hospital, but resolved not to mention this as the glare ratcheted up another notch.

“It’s real, it’s really real! Look, see! It says so here!”

Considerable suspicion met this claim, but eventually Ikuko nodded. “Alright, fine. You can have today off, then. Since I expect you’ve done all the _homework_ you have due in when you do go back, haven’t you?”

“... um. Yes?”

“Hmm.” A steely glare. “You’d better. Don’t spend all day in here, some fresh air will be good for you.”

The door clicked shut again, and Usagi shivered, feeling as though she’d just escaped a narrow brush with death.

Alas, her freedom from one tyrant came at the cost of another’s pitiless lash. Luna re-emerged, tapping a paw expectantly. Usagi dropped her head with an “uuuurgh”, but obediently navigated to the first news site the net threw up on a search.

“Okay... let’s see... aww! Politics and a business thing are higher up the page? No fair! I don't care what the PM is doing! Or that they’ve got a lead on Five! Or that Atsugessho Cosmetics is taking over Hanashobu!” She paused reflectively. “Though, uh, Mum’ll be mad if they stop making her hair dye and then she’ll probably... oh! Sweet!”

Luna’s head perked hopefully at this exclamation. It drooped down again with the girl’s next words; “Look! KAT-TUN are gonna be playing at the Tokyo Dome, I wonder if there are still tickets free? I should totally... wait, no, I don’t care about that either! Show me my page!” She clicked furiously for a minute, then broke into a smirk. “Ha! Juuban Collapse is number two on Most Read! Take that, PM! Now, what does it say...”

Luna waited impatiently, annoyed by but somewhat resigned to her charge’s ability to be distracted by a boy-band in the midst of gathering vital intelligence. “Uh... okay...” Usagi said distractedly as she skimmed the page, “yeah... okay, it mentions me... I collapsed, apparently, after that big... thing. Oh! Hey, it _was_ Tuxedo Mask that saved me, look! It says ‘a masked vigilante caught her as she collapsed and fled the scene’. So romantic! He must have got me to de-transform somehow; I just remember the dr ... that I woke up with the paramedics.”

She browsed further, opening a link or two and skimming those for information. “Um... apparently some company’s been hired to clean up the site? I... guess I kinda caused a mess. I definitely remember the stage collapsing.” She bit her lip. “Oh, and it has a few bits from the people... hey, look, a load of them like me! Look, see? ‘She saved us all. Thank you, Sailor Moon!’ And here, ‘I felt like I'd just run a marathon and everything went black, but then there was a white light. I was sure I was dying, but then I saw the blonde girl. She looked like an angel. That’s when I knew I was going to be okay.’.”

A faint blush spread across her face, and she hugged herself. “They like me,” she whispered blissfully. “They really like me. I’m helping people. I’m a _heroine_. Just like Sailor V.”

Luna paused, watching her. Usagi really was delighted, happier than Luna had ever seen her before. At the fact that she was helping people, and doing good. She smiled fondly. Ditzy the girl might be, but nobody could deny that her heart was in the right place. ‘You’re certainly getting there,’ she agreed, and she surprised herself a little with how much she meant it. ‘Is there anything else?’

“Hmm? No, not much. Just that there's some weird medical stuff, though. Mysterious recovery of heart conditions, old scars... uh... a missing arm regrowing?”

Luna stared. Usagi shifted uncomfortably under the scrutiny and laughed nervously.

“Heh... s-so... they’re better now! That's good! Right?”

The stare continued. Usagi squirmed, unable to outstare a cat.

“... okay, so maybe I shouldn’t have... shall I just look for more news stuff and promise not to do it again?”

‘Yes,’ Luna replied flatly, the stare not wavering. ‘In fact, the “never do it again” bit sounds like something you should have resolved, say, a week ago.’ She sighed, missing the quiet “unless I really have to” that Usagi muttered under her breath. ‘But I suppose we’ll just have to deal with this. By which I mean _I’ll_ probably have to deal with this. Somehow. Later. What...’

“Hey!” Usagi interrupted her. She was staring at her screen in a mixture of shock and rage. “There’s... I... this is an outrage! There’s someone pretending to be me on Twitter! Look!” She fumed angrily, shaking a fist at the list of followers highlighted onscreen. “Why, I oughtta... that’s it, I’m making a _real_ Sailor Moon profile and...”

A set of very sharp claws rested almost gently on her thigh. ‘And _what?_ ’ asked Luna, with dangerous calm.

A brief silence descended upon the room.

“... and listening to what you tell me and not doing anything to compromise my identity and please take the claws away now please?”

The claws were mercifully withdrawn. ‘Good girl. Now, is there any more direct coverage of the concert?’

“Uh huh. Just let me...” Cycling through several different windows, Usagi tapped at the keyboard once or twice as she surfed for more news sites. One in particular caught her eye, and she enlarged it with a gasp. The page picture was a full-colour shot of the stage, with Moon on the right of the picture. Her surroundings were impossible to see, because she was surrounded by a light so bright that it blotted out everything else in the area, as if the very air itself was shining. Only Moon was left untouched, etched in brilliant detail at the centre of it all.

On the left of the picture, opposite her, the area of the stage the youma should have occupied was blotched out as if the picture had been taken on film that some caustic chemical had dripped on. Metallic tendrils of tarnished rust spread out from the marred portion of the picture, shrivelling before they made it even halfway to the brilliant radiance Moon stood wreathed in.

“Wow. I looked like _that?_ ” Usagi’s eyes widened in awe and she traced the shape of her image with a finger. “So pretty...”

Luna hissed, low and angry. ‘So _dangerous_ , you mean. I hadn’t realised you had actually... Usagi, listen to me. I want you to _promise_ me you will never use that again.’

“What?” The look Usagi gave Luna hovered somewhere between ‘incredulous’ and ‘mutinous’. “But...”

‘No. No buts. Listen to me, Usagi. That mandala isn’t just pretty light. It is one of your _souls_. Yes, you are far more powerful that way, and you can do things you couldn’t do normally.’

Luna fixed Usagi with a stern glare. ‘But you are also _vulnerable_ when you use it. That halo is your spiritual link with the Moon made manifest, and its presence invites attack. Your spells and powers will likely be sluggish for days, perhaps more, as it repairs itself. A mature Senshi draws on such power only when she _must_. Under normal circumstances, she uses minimal power, wielding it skilfully to maximum effect. A trained Senshi should be capable of deciding most battles with nothing but her affinity and a few basic spells.’

She nodded at the picture, tail lashing in emphasis. ‘And more than that, greater power requires greater _control_. You said so yourself; a single blow to your concentration allowed the healing to surge out of your ability to restrain it. And if you were using a halo... frankly, I doubt you would have been able to end the spell even had you not been attacked.’

Usagi’s face had grown more and more rebellious during the little speech, and she grunted when it concluded. “Yeah, well,” she muttered sulkily, and slammed the lid of the laptop down. “I’m not a ‘mature Senshi’, am I? I barely know what I’m doing half the time! How am I meant to know all of this?” She flinched reflexively, expecting a rebuke. But when she looked up, Luna’s stern look had melted away. Her ears and shoulders drooped; her tail fell from its lashing. She just looked sad, and incredibly tired.

‘No,’ she agreed apologetically. ‘No, you’re not mature yet. This isn’t really fair on you; for all that you make mistakes, you’re trying your best.’ She sighed wearily, bowing her head. ‘And there is so very much you need to know, and so little time to tell you. Many of the things you should know, I cannot explain, because as a child of this Age you lack even the foundation to understand them.’ She sighed. ‘And by normal standards, you should not even be attempting to reach for that power for a decade or more. Events are pushing you too far, too fast, and I have no choice but to push you further still and hope that you can manage.’

She looked up, pinning Usagi again with an imploring look. ‘But please, Usagi, promise me that you won’t call on such power again. I know that this is hard for you, and that I have not advised you of all you need to know. And you’re being incredibly brave. You might cry, you might complain, but you’ve never done anything less than try to help people with your powers. But in this, I think only of your safety. Had Tuxedo Mask not shattered the spell when you collapsed, you could very well have drained yourself to death in healing that crowd – healing them far past the point they needed. If there is any other option besides that, in future, I want you to take it. Even if it means running away.’

“Running... but that would have left the people with the youma!”

‘Yes.’ Luna closed her eyes tiredly. ‘I know the choice hurts. _Believe me_ , I know. And I hope, I dearly hope, that you never have to make it. But if it is a choice between running away and living to save others in the future, and dying – perhaps without even saving those you attempt to protect... I may be biased, but I would rather you chose the former. There will be other youma. There will be other victims. You cannot save them if you are dead.’

That hit home, and Usagi’s horror wavered into confusion and uncertainty. “But...” she whispered, “... I can’t just _leave_ people. I...” she searched for words for a moment, struggling, and finally sighed. Luna’s expression was a mix of worry, sympathy and sad resignation that made her heart hurt and her head spin. Eventually, her shoulders slumped and she nodded miserably. “I’ll... I’ll think about it, Luna. And I promise I’ll try really hard to find any other way besides using the halo.” She shivered. “You don’t have to tell me that twice. I remember what it felt like when it went wild.”

Luna rubbed her cheek against Usagi hand soothingly, purring softly. ‘I have faith you’ll find a way. And I hope you never have to face such a choice. Don’t worry about it now; give yourself some time to be normal.’ She allowed the girl a few moments of peace before resuming a stern expression. ‘Speaking of which, I believe you have homework due in tomorrow?’

“Aww. Do I have to? It’s still morning,” complained her charge, and hastily reversed course at Luna’s mild glare. “Okay, I have to. Fine, fine. I’ll do it on here. Let’s get it over with.” She reopened her laptop, tapping the power key to wake it up again. “Let me just...”

The screen turned on. It was not, however, Usagi’s desktop that was revealed. A blue background framed white words and letters, most of them gibberish technical jargon.

“Huh?” Usagi stared. “What... hey! No fair! What... ‘A problem has been detected and Windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer. The problem seems to be caused by...’ blah blah blah... argh, what does all of this _mean?_ Oh, uh, ‘If this is the first time you have seen this Stop Error screen, restart your computer’... okay.” She hammered the power button, shutting down the machine and turning it back on again. This proved even less helpful, and resulted in a black screen with the message ‘Internal hard drive not found’ in the top left hand corner.

Turning it off and on again failed to improve matters; producing the same message and exhausting the depths of Usagi’s technical knowledge.

“Argh! Luna! Do you know how to repair computers?”

She was met with a flat glare. ‘Do I look like I know how to repair your computer?’

“You know lots of things!” Usagi protested. “How am I supposed to know what psychic moon cats can do?” She turned back to the computer and started clicking furiously on nothing in particular in the hopes of finding a hidden button that would make everything start working again.

Further attempts to rouse life from the machine –getting steadily more annoyed as they progressed – met with similar failure. Eventually, she gave up with a frustrated growl and flopped back in her chair.

“Argh! I can’t fix it, stupid thing! I’ll have to get it repaired or something. I guess I can get Dad to take a look at it this evening, or something. Or... hmm.”

She raised her voice to a yell, making Luna wince, and hollered at her bedroom wall. “Hey, Shingo! I need to borrow your laptop, mum says so!”

“Liar!” came the muffled reply through the wall.

“Am not! I need it for homework!”

Something thumped the wall. “You have your own! Use that!”

Usagi scowled and grabbed for the nearest object – a wastepaper bin – to hurl back, when the door opened again and Ikuko leaned in. Usagi hastily dropped the bin and scooted in front of it, but Ikuko didn’t seem to notice.

“Usagi,” she snapped. “It is half past six in the morning. Keep it down.”

“But...” Usagi gestured at her laptop helplessly, “my laptop’s broken! I need to borrow Shingo’s for my homework and he’s being a brat about it!”

“Am not!” came the muleish yell through the wall.

“Shingo!” Ikuko snapped again, glaring at the wall. There was a faint “eep” from the next room, then silence. She turned back to Usagi, who shrank back. “And as for you, you know the rules. Your laptops are your own territory, to stop you arguing over them. If yours is broken, go out to the public library and use a computer there. And I don’t want to hear any complaining.” She ducked out of the room, closing the door behind her, and Usagi waited until she’d told Shingo off and left before continuing.

“So... Luna? Does this mean I get out of...”

Luna rolled her eyes. ‘No, you don’t. But if you’ll be going to the library to do it, I suppose I can let you sleep in until it’s likely to be open.’ She peered at the girl appraisingly. ‘You didn’t get much sleep last night... you’re probably still running on the after-effects of that halo manifestation.’ She sighed. ‘Which means you’ll crash when it wears off. Go on; get some sleep now, even if you don’t feel like it. I’ll wake you when it’s time to go.’

...

A mailed fist crashed down on black stone, lit by violet witch-pyres under the void-black sky. The impact threw up broken chips and fragments and left a shallow crater in the glassy rock. Jadeite scowled, ignoring the minor damage to the arm of his throne and concentrating his attention on the glowing ball of energy before him. It was impressively large, that much was true. But it was not as large as it should have been. Something, or rather some _one_ , had cut it off before it was finished.

He would pay for that, this unknown assailant. Whatever had happened at the concert, it had destroyed the flow of energy with incredible speed and ferocity. Jadeite had no doubt that it was he who had destroyed the trap operation as well, however that had happened – all that scrying had revealed was a burnt-out ruin where it had been, and all his instruments and sorceries combined had failed to show him what had happened at the concert.

The media at least had given him pictures of a girl who had apparently stood up to his youma, but they were all but useless in telling him what had actually occurred; half of them blotted out with light or imago, the other half blurred or badly angled by the collapse of the cameramen. The meagre amount they did tell him only raised more questions. Who was this girl? Who was pulling her strings? Where was she being directed from, and who was empowering her? Some of the reports mentioned a man in black – had he taken to the stage when his subordinate had proved too weak to handle the situation alone?

This enemy was cunning, competent and cautious, to be sure. But regardless of his confidence and skill, Jadeite would see him dragged out before Beryl’s throne, and would take the coward’s head himself. He _would not_ be made a fool of!

“Your grace,” came a voice from the shadows. “As requested, I have come.”

“Vicomtesse Hubnerite,” he acknowledged, pulling a mask of cool contempt across his face. Dealing with this woman was... aggravating. Her knew her type, and didn’t trust her any further than he had to. “A troubling situation has developed with regard to our operations.”

The speaker moved into the meagre light, revealing herself as a tiny Chinese woman, dark-eyed and with short hair. She wore an off-the-shoulder dress that shimmered alluringly as she moved, and brass bangles adorned her wrists, inset with black crystals that glittered red where the light fell on them. Tattoos that matched them dappled her skin, shifting and swaying sinuously like serpents. She nodded knowingly as she approached. “Quite the dilemma,” she agreed, her accent not one native to this fallen era – nor the same as his, born of long-ago Earth. “This makes the third of your harvests disrupted? Or the fourth, I suppose, if you count both of them. The Queen must not be... pleased.”

Jadeite’s eyes narrowed further. “The _Queen_ is content with the energy I am providing,” he growled. Technically speaking she shouldn’t even know about the failed operations. Regretfully, her talent for finding out secrets she shouldn’t know – including his own – was precisely why she had been placed under his command. “You will find out who is doing this. Find this girl, this ‘Sailor Moon’, and find whoever directs her. Make no overt moves against him yet. Just bring me information. You may act as a local commander and take whatever resources you need, but be prepared to justify them to me at the end of this.”

She nodded at that. “My thanks for your generosity in this. May I see the map? I would like some idea of where to start before I go.”

The duc sighed with affected weariness, but tapped his foot sharply against the floor of solidified shadows. A table rose from it between them, a solid slab of material that grew upwards with excess shadow-matter pouring off it like smoke. As the last trickles fell back down to the floor, they left a miniature version of the city, cast in three dimensions like a tiny model. Here and there, gemstone beads of bright, arterial scarlet were inset into the inky black stone, gleaming like blood droplets in the dim light.

Here and there on the local scale, at least.

Collectively, there were _dozens_ of them. They formed a pattern, to one who had knowledge of such things – a pattern that stretched across the entire city. It wound and coiled around the districts of Tokyo, concentrated where the population was densest, thinner in those parts that lacked as many people. Hair-thin strands of crimson light linked them, etching out the sigil in its totality.

Three of the gems, however, broke the pattern. They had lost their lustre, and their dim light was insufficient to support the light-strands. Their presence was a rent in the glyph, a torn hole in the perfect geomancy of the largest draining sigil that Hubnerite had ever seen.

She’d known about it already, of course. But it was still impressive to see spread out before her on a table as long as she was tall, and almost as wide across. A low, appreciative gasp escaped her, and she flashed Jadeite a brief but genuine look of respect.

It didn’t last long, of course. A split second’s glimpse, and then it was concealed under the same faintly amused expression she had entered the sanctum with. “Very nice indeed,” she murmured. “A true shame about the holes in it. Will you be replacing them?”

Chilly silence met her.

“I only mention it because putting them so close to the originals would likely...” Hubnerite glanced across slyly as she spoke, and abruptly stopped speaking as she caught sight of Jadeite’s expression. The ambient temperature seemed to drop by several degrees. His face was completely composed, as hard as stone. Only his eyes betrayed his inner fury at her insolence.

Hubnerite had made a long career out of knowing how far she could push her luck, and when to stop and focus on her continued survival; when to draw attention to herself for her willingness to challenge the status quo and when to be silent and let her superiors make their mistakes. She hastily backed away, bowing low. “I will return with news of the attacker, your grace,” she promised as she went. “I can assure you; one week should be all that I require.”

She didn’t risk waiting for a response. The dark tattoos on her skin swirled out to cover every inch of her, and with a swirl of shadows she was gone.

...

There was no other recourse. If she returned with her mission undone, she would surely be slain most agonisingly and torturously. And yet the task was formidable – impossible, even, without her own private resources to call on. She was trapped in a terrible dilemma, and could see only one way out. She would have to accomplish what she had been sent out to do using only what aid she could scrounge in a place both alien and unfamiliar. A dangerous, treacherous arena in which lurked enemies both stealthy and dangerous, who could ruin her with sadistic ease.

Yes, there was no other path for her to take.

Usagi was headed to the public library.

‘You know,’ remarked Luna from her seat in Usagi’s satchel, ‘I can’t help but think you’re being somewhat melodramatic about this.’

Usagi paid her no attention, preoccupied as she was with the cloud of encroaching doom that hovered over her head like a stormy anvil. She trudged along glumly, scuffing her shoes on the pavement. Her route took her through the park, and she glanced around in envy at the happy students laughing and playing freely, unburdened by Sisyphean labours like her own.

Well, okay, there weren’t actually that many students, because it was a school day and most of the people her own age that weren’t in school were still in bed or hospital. But there were... like, dog-walkers and little kids and people taking coffee breaks! They mocked her with their happiness, and their blissful states of not-having-tonnes-of-impossible-homework-to-do!

Salvation beckoned halfway through the park, though, in the form of the delicate strains of a melody she knew well. Usagi’s slumped shoulders rose, her eyes perked up and her entire demeanour brightened at the sound.

For her part, Luna narrowed her eyes suspiciously. ‘What is it?’ she demanded. ‘Why are you so cheerful all of a sudden?’

“Oh... no reason. Nothing you need to worry about. I’m just... ah!” With a happy sigh of relief, Usagi’s eyes settled on the ice cream seller. Instinctively, her hand went to her pocket to check for change.

‘Weren’t you meant to be going to the library? You know, to do your homework?’ Luna asked snippishly.

“I will, I will,” Usagi said, grinning as she found two hundred-yen coins. “I’m just... uh, checking that this ice cream stall isn’t a wicked youma conspiracy.” Just in case, she extended her senses, eyeing up the middle-aged man. If he was a wicked energy-stealing monster, she’d know!

As it turned out, he was not. Smirking a very satisfied smirk, Usagi trotted over to inspect his wares.

Sadly, sitting down with her newly-purchased triple-scoop vanilla-strawberry-chocolate ice cream with sprinkles, wafers, toffee sauce and a flake proved impossible. The ground was still damp from brief showers of rain earlier, and a couple of teenage girls were already occupying the only bench in sight; one with short pink hair, the other with long black braids and glasses. Robbed of her chance to sit around and delay things further, Usagi stuck her tongue out at them, and received a glare from the pink-haired girl in return.

At least having to balance the ice cream gave her an excuse to dawdle.

The concert stage, when she passed it, was fenced off. Tall plywood boards surrounded the site, and a couple of large vans were parked outside them, with logos that read “Achiral” and “JCC”. Clanking and crashing sounds came from within, and peeking through a cap between two boards, she could make out half of a skip, which workmen were shovelling debris into. She winced.

“I... didn’t do _that_ much damage. Did I?”

Luna forbore to comment on this, which was somehow worse than a snarky remark. Sighing at the unfairness of it all, Usagi finished off her ice cream, hefted her bag on her shoulder and continued on her way.

...

The library building was a bulky and unattractive concrete edifice which some builder in the 1950s had apparently thought was a good idea. Usagi could almost _feel_ the quiet malevolence radiating off the structure. With so many books packed so close together, she was sure, doom and calamity was soon to follow.

“Luna,” she whispered softly, her voice hushed just from the sight of the dreadful place, “there aren’t... book-themed youma, are there? Or, like... librarian ones?”

‘No. And should I really be going in with you?’ Luna looked around warily from her seat in the bag, keeping her head low and unobtrusive.

“Look,” Usagi said, nodding at the display next to the entrance, “the sign says ‘no dogs apart from guide dogs’. It said nothing about ‘no cats’, so you’re allowed in. Perfectly logical, see?”

‘If you believe _that_ ,’ Luna hissed back, ‘then why are you keeping me hidden in your bag?’ 

“Well, it’s logical to _me_. Other people might not see it that way. Best not to risk it.”

Red eyes flickered around in search of eyewitnesses or cameras as Usagi took to the stairs. Judging herself safe, Luna quickly stuck a paw out of the bag and jabbed her charge in the side with claws unsheathed, drawing a yelp of pain and a sideways hop.

“What was that for?” Usagi demanded angrily, only just remembering to keep her voice down.

‘Your attempt at logic. Let me out.’

“What? No! I need you!”

Luna rolled her eyes and jabbed at Usagi again, though this time the girl saw it coming and managed to twist out of the way so that the claws caught nothing but cloth. ‘I’m not going to leave you,’ she said with strained patience, ‘but if you try and take me in there in the bag, you’re going to get us both caught. Let me out.’

Usagi paused on the landing between two flights and stared at her. “... how will that help the situation?” she asked. “You’ll get noticed even easier.”

‘No I won’t. I can go unseen when I need to. But not while I’m stuck in a bag being prodded by an empty biro and your housekeys. Let me out onto the ground and I’ll get in my own way and meet you inside.’

“... you promise?”

‘I promise.’

Usagi thought quickly. “It’s, uh, a big library, actually. Maybe I should wait until we’re inside to let you out? Behind the shelves or something? And then I could get some books down for you which... uh,” she trailed off, “will tell you things about the human world?” she hazarded.

Luna looked at her for a long moment, then dropped her head in defeat. ‘Fine,’ she groaned. ‘As you wish. Just try to get us inside without any disasters, please, it’s starting to get uncomfortable in here.’

Usagi pouted at the lack of faith her mentor had in her, but slunk into the library obediently. A scary-looking woman with shiny glasses glared at her, but no torrent of unholy doom and literature erupted from the shelves to expel her from the room.

It was a largeish room, more or less square, which was two floors high so that people on the floor above could see into the large space from the balconies, reading rooms and extra shelves that were up there. Rows of shelves stretched off on one side of her, while the other had computers lining the wall and a few desks in an open space. In the corner beyond them, a set of shorter shelves formed a pseudo-wall for the children’s section. The whole place was filled with a busy kind of silence that managed to be surprisingly filled with sound for a quiet room; paper rustled, a low murmur of voices drifted over from the desks and shelves, and a printer was active somewhere on the upper floor.

Creeping as quietly as she could, Usagi snuck into the nearest row of shelves that didn’t have anyone in it and bent down as if she was looking at the books down there. Shielding her bag with her body in case there was anyone behind her, she let Luna out. The cat gave her a quick nod before slipping into the gap beneath the shelves. Not a moment too soon, because someone bumped into Usagi from behind not a moment later.

She had just enough time to hear an “oh no-” before several heavy somethings landed her on the head with a thump and sent her painfully into the floor.

“Owww...” she moaned, from carpet level.

“Oh no, oh no... um, I’m very sorry! I couldn’t see where I was going, or at least I couldn’t see down because I was... I mean, sorry, um... are you hurt?”

“I told you the books would attack me...” Usagi moaned, not thinking entirely clearly. “Oww... oh, my head...” She clutched at her skull feebly, checking to see if she was bleeding or had her head cracked open.

“Okay, um, I’m not really sure how to respond to that,” said the voice. It was female, clearly enunciated and now sounded more confused than frantic. “How about I, uh, help you up and get you to somewhere you can sit down? Does that sound good?” Through her spinning vision, Usagi felt an arm wrap around her waist, and the girl heaved her to her feet with a gasp of effort. “Oof. Um, can you... actually no, I’ll come back for the books in a minute. Here, this way...”

The arm guided her down the stacks and round a corner. Usagi caught glimpses of a red sleeve and a green skirt, but her head was pounding too much for her to protest much or see who her assailant and helper was. She was led to a small table in an alcove, scattered with papers and a couple of books. A bag hung on the chair, which she was gently guided into, and she settled into it with a sigh as the girl rushed back to collect up what she had dropped.

It only took a minute or so for Usagi’s head to clear, and by the time the girl returned, she was feeling more or less herself again. The towering pile of books – it wasn’t surprising that the girl had bumped into her, with a stack of texts that high – was dumped on the desk in front of her, and she was distinctly sure she heard the legs creak under the weight. Surreptitiously, she edged her legs out from underneath it, just in case it collapsed.

Then she turned to look at the girl who’d dumped them there, and froze for a moment. What sound there was in the library seemed to die away at the sight of the girl; pale from too much time spent indoors, her short hair cropped close to her face, and somehow familiar in a way that eluded Usagi, as if it were an answer on the tip of her tongue. She wore a school uniform that Usagi didn’t recognise offhand, and was staring back with a mixture of nervousness and mild confusion.

“Uh. Hi,” Usagi said. “Thanks, I think. Um...” She felt a gentle pressure against her legs, a furred body rubbing past them, and had to force herself not to look down. “I’m... Usagi! Usagi Tsukino. Nice to meet you!”

The girl nodded slowly, warily, unaccustomed by Usagi’s enthusiasm. “Ami Mizuno,” she replied quietly. “Are you okay? I didn’t see you, I hope I didn’t...”

“Oh, I’m fine,” Usagi grinned disarmingly. “I take knocks like that all the time. Naru-chan always says that if my head were any harder, you could use it as a cannonball. Besides, it was as much my fault as yours.”

Ami blinked in surprise, her lips twitching, and then giggled. She looked faintly surprised as she brought herself under control, as if Usagi had caught her off guard. “Well... even so, please allow me to make it up to you,” she offered. “Those books had to hurt.”

“Well...” Usagi pondered. The girl _was_ carrying around a load of heavy textbooks on – she snuck a glance – ‘Essentials of Anatomy and Physiology’ and ‘An Introduction to Cell Biology’, whatever they were. So she had to be smart, right? “... I do have some homework that I’ve, uh, been sort of having trouble with,” she said innocently. “You could help me with that, if you wanted to make it up to me?”

She was probably a terrible person for exploiting this opportunity like this, but the lure of a reprieve from her monstrous homework was too good to pass up. Surprisingly, though, Ami smiled rather than sigh, and agreed without any hesitation. It was almost like she found the prospect of homework attractive!

Actually, given that she was reading a pile of books that Usagi estimated to weigh almost as much as she did, that might not be so far from the truth. A little of her guilt for exploiting the girl evaporated, and was replaced with determination to show her how to relax in a way that didn’t involve evil schoolwork. At least once the stuff hovering over her own head had been disposed of.

“So,” asked Ami as they settled down to work, “why aren’t you in school?”

Usagi bit her lip. “Ah... well, basically, my whole year’s off for the day. Most of them were, well...”

“Ahh. The concert, right?” Ami nodded in understanding. “My year is the same. Not many of them were hospitalised, but enough got orders of bed rest that the teachers didn’t think there was any point in ordering everyone else in.” She shrugged. “I was studying, myself. I suppose one of the benefits of staying home in the evenings is that you don’t get caught up in stuff like this.”

“Uh... I... guess so?” While technically true, it seemed a bit lonely to Usagi. “Don’t you have any friends you spend time with, though?”

Ami stilled for a moment, then smiled oddly at her. “I have friends,” she said. “Just... not really many that are my age. Or who live nearby. Or, well...” she shook her head. “It doesn’t matter, anyway. I don’t think I’d have gone even if I’d had friends who were going. Big crowds and loud music aren’t my idea of a good time. And like I said, it got me off getting hit by whatever happened there, so it’s really a net positive.” She flashed that quick, cold, slightly brittle smile again, and turned back to the mess of papers and textbooks.

The only explanation Usagi could offer for her next comment was sheer, morbid curiosity, mixed with a strong feeling that staying on the topic of friends any longer was something best avoided. “So, uh... what do you think it _was_ that happened, exactly?” she asked. “Everything I’ve heard seems a bit... confused.”

Ami turned back to her, and for the first time Usagi found herself the recipient of the girl’s full and complete attention. It was a faintly unnerving experience to be pinned by the sharp blue gaze. “Uh...” she gulped. “I’m just curious what you think?”

This seemed to be accepted, and Ami scooted her chair back and round to face Usagi better. “Well,” she started. “Obviously it was _something_ paranormal. The people shouting about conspiracies and hoaxes don’t know what they’re talking about.”

Usagi’s smile wavered slightly as fur brushed against her ankle. Luna was listening. How had she got under the table without either of them noticing? “R-really?” she croaked, arranging her face into what she hoped was a convincing facsimile of polite interest.

“Oh, yes. All the factors line up – apparently psychically sensitive people felt it as far out as Fuji, all at the exact same time. You’d have to be pretty stupid to deny it like the hyper-skeptics do. It was probably something like that cruise ship last year – you remember?”

She was met with a blank look. A year ago might as well be a lifetime for Usagi, who hadn’t paid much attention to the news until her secret nightlife had become closely tied to it.

“You don’t? Really?” Ami asked in mild surprise. “Huh. Well, this luxury cruise ship that had been advertised everywhere was found run aground on a sandback a few miles out from shore, all rusted and broken and ancient and with everyone inside dead or dying. All the footage and eyewitnesses show it looking brand new when the passengers were boarding, but when they looked at the wreck it turned out to have been sunk forty years ago. They never got the bottom of how it turned up looking brand-new in the harbour, and there were allegations of corruption in how the docking permits for it had been granted. Though I don’t think any convictions got made. I’m surprised you don’t remember it, it hit the news pretty hard.”

“Ah... oh, right.” Usagi winced, remembering. “This wouldn’t have been around May, would it? Because that was...” she shuddered “ _midterms_. And I was so snowed under with exams and Mama being... scary at me... that I barely knew what day it was for about a month leading up to them.” She held her head high, playing up the very real tragedy which had afflicted her to get the other girl to smile again. “I passed, though! Barely! I had to sacrifice stuff like eating and sleeping, and be driven by my cruel and heartless slave-driver mother, but I passed!” She paused, and deflated as the triumph ebbed away. “Now I just have to find some way to pass the next set...”

Ami’s cheeks twitched again. Usagi grinned at her ruefully, and the faint, shy smile emerged again along with a giggle. “Well,” she said, a good deal more warmly than she had been at the beginning of their conversation, “I have an exam at cram school tomorrow which I’m studying for. They’re not so hard, once you get the hang of them. We’ll see if we can’t make it a bit easier for you this year, shall we? What areas do you have problems with?”

Usagi thought about this. She considered not only her schoolwork, but found her mind wandering – as it so often did these days – to her alter-ego, and the problems she was facing there. Like demons they loomed over her; language tests and maths, slave-driver teachers and complicated grammar rules, being grounded and facing difficult moral choices, keeping secrets and having to deal with evil monsters trying to kill her. Not to mention the issues with her love life, or lack thereof. Eventually, pulled from the depths of her soul, she blurted out the first thing that came to mind; in the most accurate way she could express it with words.

“Everything,” she sighed mournfully, and let her head fall to the desk with a gentle thud. “I have problems with everything.”

...


	12. A Second Senshi Joins the Fray! Mercury’s Awakening!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A Test of Courage

A night passed peacefully and a new day dawned. Teenagers the city over filed begrudgingly into school, more-or-less recovered from their draining weekends. It was a thankfully uneventful day, and it found Usagi Tsukino at the Hino Shrine once again, an hour and a half after the end of school.

“Stupid... piece of... rassa... frassin’... stubborn... come on... go _away_... argh! Die, stupid tarnish! I curse your existence unto the seventh generation!”

She was less than happy about this. And was expressing this disdain vocally.

“May you get one point below the high score on all your video games! May you be beaten to the last stick of pocky in every packet! May your alarm go off half an hour late on the day of your big test!”

“Tsukino,” a voice cut in. “Are you polishing those lanterns or trying to lecture them to a mirror shine?”

Usagi glanced over at Rei, who had two shiny, finished lanterns at her feet to Usagi’s one, and was busily polishing a third.

“But... but it won’t polish!” she said defensively. “It’s like it has it out for me! Can we trade lanterns?”

“No.” Rei didn’t even look up from her work. “Polish harder.”

Usagi bit her lip, assessing the other girl out of the corner of her eye. Rei had been... subdued, today. Blunter than normal, and less talkative. The sarcastic quips and pointed jibes had dried up almost completely. Something had happened, she was sure. She could guess when, and even had a pretty good idea of why. The only thing she didn’t know was _what_.

It had something to do with the pet shop. That much, Usagi was pretty certain of. She’d checked the place on her way to the shrine earlier that morning, prompted by the memory of passing it by the first time. She’d expected to find the aura of minor evil unchanged, or perhaps simply gone; a false alarm of some sort. Instead...

...

_Thin wisps of smoke still curled up from the ruin of what had once been a building, surrounded and fenced off by police tape barriers. The structure was gutted; charred wooden ribs exposed to the sky, revealing blackened innards. The roof had collapsed in, taking most of the upper floor with it, and fragments of fire-shattered tiles, charcoal and broken glass littered the street. The back wall had fallen out, too – it was visible through the gaping emptiness where once there had been a shop façade – and the yard behind the building was full of debris._

_At some point, the blaze had burnt hot enough to melt the steel support beams, forming puddles of dull grey in hollows on the ground. There were rents and rifts in the ground, as well as the walls that were still standing – potholes, crevasses – as if something had taken bites out of the surviving architecture. The buildings to either side had escaped total destruction, but they hadn’t fared well. Blackened brick and broken windows marked the unfortunate shops nearby in the row, and there were tarpaulins spread over holes in the roofs where the fire had spread._

_Of those who had owned the shop, and the pets that it had been selling, there was no sign at all._

...

Usagi knew her own skill at sensing the world around her was mediocre at best. Rei’s senses, though, were far more acute. She could spot the one speck of floor in the entire haiden that Usagi hadn’t swept at a glance, and seemed to have eyes not just in the back of her head but which could also see through walls when it came to catching her slacking. And Usagi knew that Rei was a little bit magical, because she could feel it in the protective charms the other girl made. So if she’d gone past the place, there would have been no way she could have failed to detect it. Nor would she have brushed it off and moved on as Usagi had. Her meticulous, perfectionist attitude to rooting out any and all flaws and mistakes during shrine work was proof enough of that.

It was a pretty big ‘if’, admittedly, but Usagi _knew_ she was onto something. It wasn’t mundane evidence that drove her guess, or deduction. The shattered building had _felt_ like Rei, had been saturated in her aura. The hungry, crackling, fiery feeling which blanketed the shrine – strongest of all in the room of the sacred fire – it had lingered at the site of the pet store. It hadn’t been quite the same there. It had been stronger, wilder, scarier; more like a forest fire than a hearth. But it had definitely been Rei.

But while that told her that Rei had been there, it told her nothing of what had happened. And if she wanted to help Rei feel better, she needed somewhere to start.

She slanted her eyes sideways at Rei again, noting the ofuda dotted here and there on the girl’s miko robes. There were always a few, of course. But she knew enough now to pick out what they were for at a glance.

Protection. Ward against evil. Ward against spirits. More protection. Ward against ill influence.

If Usagi was any judge – and she was – Rei was wearing enough spiritual protection to hold off a small army. Something had scared her. Badly.

“Why all the wards?”

Rei’s rough polishing slowed, then stopped. She glared at Usagi out of the corner of her eye, but Usagi was unphased.

“They’re new,” she observed, cocking her head. “Is it some special shrine maiden ritual... thing? Like, a special lots-of-ofuda month?” She paused, and an expression of genuine concern appeared. “Wait, _are_ there special shrine maiden months where we do stuff differently? Only there were a couple of times I wasn’t really list... uh...” She trailed off as Rei’s glare increased in intensity by several notches. “... I mean... seriously, you’re all decked out in protective wards and talismans and stuff. Is there something I should know?”

Rei’s eyes flickered away, then back to Usagi. “It... no, it’s not a special occasion,” she said. “Just a precaution. There are...”

Usagi waited for her to elaborate, inching forwards and listening attentively. When nothing came, she cleared her throat awkwardly. “Uh... a precaution against what, exactly?” she prompted. Internally, she was torn between triumph and sympathy. On the one hand, she was now _certain_ that Rei had encountered a youma of some sort; certain enough that the clueless act was getting hard to keep up. On the other hand... it looked like it hadn’t gone well for her. “Are... Rei-chan, are you okay? Did something...”

“I’m fine.” The answer was short, curt and final. Rei wasn’t looking at Usagi anymore, staring straight ahead at something only she could see. “There are dangerous things around, that’s all. You can’t be too careful.”

“Is...” Usagi hesitated, but plunged on. “I felt something, a few days ago... and when I went back it was burnt down, and...” she took a deep breath, “... did something happen at that pet shop, Rei? Was that...”

“Stairs.”

“... what?”

“ _Stairs_.” The glare that Rei threw at Usagi was forceful enough that the miko-in-training flinched away. She’d never seen the other girl this coldly angry at her. “It’s early autumn, so there’ll be leaves everywhere. Go and sweep the steps. Now. From the bottom of the hill up to the torii gate.”

“But...”

Rei didn’t answer with words. Her expression was answer – and intimidation – enough. Usagi hung her head, conceded defeat, and dropped the topic. Setting her lantern down, she trudged over to the door, slipped on her sandals, and went to get a broom with the weariness of one who can see a huge and pitiless task looming before them.

She was still going to get the truth out of Rei about whatever had happened. But, she admitted, it might be better to wait until she was a bit more ready to talk about it before trying again.

...

Across town, Ami took a shallow breath as she took out her pens and other stationary. Arranging them neatly before her on the desk, around the face-down paper, she waited for the invigilator to call a start to the exam. She always felt nervous before tests, regardless of how much she had studied for them. She bit her lip, and smoothed down her front. Her mother said the red bought colour to her face, but Ami had always felt it clashed with her hair. Most of the other boys and girls in the class had changed from their school uniforms before heading to cram school, but she had never really seen the point.

This one was just a mock history exam, not even a proper one within the cram school. Still, that was no reason not to do her best on it. And the subject matter was interesting, anyway. Most schools didn’t cover Palaeolithic civilisation in depth; at most glancing over some of the remnants of that age. But when looked at in detail, it was really interesting stuff. The cram school might be a bit... aggressively focused, but the wealth of fascinating new material was well worth the oddities that some of the teachers displayed.

Still, she thought as she began, maybe the pace was a _little_ bit fast. It might have just been that she had been studying a little too late last night, but all she had done so far was fill in her name and the first two questions, and her hand was already as tired as if she’d been writing for hours. She could hear other students suppressing yawns as well, and the boy in front of her was writing more and more slowly, his head nodding as if he were desperately trying to stay awake.

She shook her head, bit her lip, and turned back to her paper.

_List the four earliest eras of human pre-history, and provide a short explanation of what defines each of them._

That was easy. ‘Arkheolithic, Palaeolithic, Katastrophic, Neolithic’, Ami jotted down, and frowned at the second part.

‘The Arkheolithic,’ she began, ‘was the earliest period of human pre-history . It extends from the earliest known use of stone tools approximately 2.6 million years ago, to the initial rise of agriculture, advanced tool use and city-building in the Fertile Crescent, South Africa and China, beginning in approximately 21,000 BCE. It is characterised by the emergence of _Homo sapiens_ as the dominant human lifeform, and the first stone tools and forms of art.

The Palaeolithic runs from these earliest civilisations to their sudden collapse in approximately 10,000-12,000 BCE. It is most well-known for the extensive ruins left behind by the relatively advanced societies that existed, such as the enormous stone circles across much of Northern Europe and Russia, the extensive road networks covering the Americas, Eurasia and Africa, or the complex temple foundations in New Zealand. Its name comes from these ruins – ‘old’ plus ‘stone’.

The civilisations of the Palaeolithic were brought to a sudden and violent end in the Katastrophic, in which a mass extinction of many plant and animal species took place, and human civilisation collapsed. The probable cause is some form of natural catastrophe such as a supervolcano or an asteroid impact, leading to a drastic decrease in crop production, a global ice age, and...’

A thump from somewhere off to her left drew her attention away from the paper. She didn’t want to be distracted, but she glanced to her side nonetheless. One of the boys she vaguely recognised as being the third- or fourth-highest achiever in the class had fallen off his seat, and was twitching slightly on the floor. Ami looked over to the invigilator for help, but the woman merely gave her a cold smile and pushed her glasses further up her nose. Another thud behind Ami announced a second student passing out, and Ami tried to think through the fog of exhaustion that was clouding her mind.

“What...” she managed, holding onto the desk for support. “Why aren’t you...”

The woman’s cold smile broadened, revealing fangs that poked over her lower lip. Her eyes had changed, too; the whites and irises merging into a malicious yellow.

“The time and effort you humans put into studying and getting good grades...” she said, as if to herself. “Yes... my lord will reward me well for gathering such fresh and vibrant energy. Keep going! Finish your papers! Pour out your knowledge, and your energy along with it!” She grinned, sharp teeth lending her face a demonic air.

“After all, it’s not as though you can stop.”

And she was right, Ami realised. The other students were still writing furiously, even as their faces turned pale and their hands shook with exhaustion. She could feel it herself, the urge to write, to answer every question, the all-consuming thought that getting anything less than a perfect grade on this paper would be a fate worse than death.

Her hand spasmed, and the pen clattered to the floor. As she fought to keep herself from lunging down to retrieve it, the thought occurred to her that this was probably the same sort of thing that had happened at the concert last week. Wasn’t that what she’d told that Usagi girl? That avoiding this kind of situation was a benefit of staying home and studying?

A small part of her couldn’t help but feel a bitter sense of irony in that now.

The rest was praying that Sailor Moon would intervene this time, too.

...

The leaves were proving difficult.

“Stupid Rei.”

It wasn’t too surprising, really.

“Stupid wards.”

She’d always suspected they had it in for her.

“Stupid steps.”

Blowing into her face all the time, getting underfoot while they were soggy and tripping her up.

“Stupid broom.”

Wasn’t it just a continuation of that pattern? Yes, it clearly was! They now gathered into an army, occupying the territory they had conquered and stubbornly refusing to be ousted. They’d probably go on the attack next.

“Stupid miko robes.”

And Rei probably wouldn’t even _care_ when she came down and found Usagi’s body under a drift, murdered by a swarm of fallen foliage. The heartless slavedriver. See if Usagi ever did anything nice for her again.

“Stupid _leaves_.”

Grumbling to herself and feeling terribly put-upon, Usagi stomped down another four steps and started brushing the leaves that covered them aside. She glanced up hopefully, assessing the amount she had done, and sagged as she realised she was barely a quarter of the way down the hill.

It looked like it was going to start raining soon, too.

Her life was _so_ unfair. And fine, she understood that Rei was probably still upset and scared and was just trying to be tough and shouty to hide it, and in a while she’d probably feel more sympathetic about that, but right now she was a quarter of the way down the _giant flight of steps_ she had been sent to sweep just for trying to help! It wasn’t even like she was wearing proper shoes, so the leaves were getting her feet damp. And it wasn’t just leaves, there was... ick, there was litter and bits of food and... was that an ice-cream cone? She vaguely remembered a few of the girls who’d come up earlier had been eating some. How could they just drop it on the stairs like that, without any thought for the poor people who had to clean it up? It was... she struggled for words to describe the unfairness, growling to herself. It was... it was...

And then, _fear_. It poured into her, rushing into a cold spot in her brain without bothering to go via her eyes or ears. Fear, a deathly chill and a terrible weakness. Mocking laughter, an alien urge and a desperate struggle against it. But the feelings weren’t her own. They were separate, distant; the thoughts and panic of another.

And that other was familiar.

“Ami,” she breathed, eyes widening.

She hesitated, looking down at the long, _long_ flight of steps she had yet to sweep. Then, guided by some inner compass, stared out across the city in the direction the distress was coming from. Then back at the steps, and up at the shrine, where Rei no doubt waited; a fiery, barb-tongued demoness no doubt even now devising terrible tortures against the possibility of Usagi slacking off.

But it wasn’t really a choice. She knew she would be take some lumps over this. But Ami was in trouble.

Throwing the broom aside – with no small amount of satisfaction and enthusiasm, on the basis that it was probably better to get her enjoyment of this in now, before Rei killed her – Usagi hitched up her hakama, silently cursed the fact that she didn’t have time to change, and unceremoniously legged it down the steps and towards the fray.

...

The rain beat on the window of the cram school classroom, water pouring in rivulets down the glass. Drops were starting to bead on the inside, too, running down to pool on the sill below it.

Ami clutched the sides of her desk in a death grip. Truth be told, it was the only thing keeping her upright at the moment – the other students had all long since succumbed. Some of them seemed like they’d stopped breathing. A tiny part of her brain was screaming about that.

The rest of her was focused on just staying alive. She wasn’t sure if it were the fact that she’d managed to stop herself writing that had kept her from passing out, or something else, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t being drained. Her hands were numb, her eyes ached, and her arms were trembling from the effort of keeping her from simply slumping over onto her desk.

Her desk was wet. Was she crying? She might be crying. She didn’t know. Water was pooling on the wooden surface; that much she was sure of. Her test had turned soggy, the ink running and the words blurring. She felt sad about that, even as she felt relieved. The room seemed colder, too.

And blurry, for some reason, like she was seeing it through a veil of tears. Maybe she was crying, after all. Her eyes ached as if she had been staring at the sun for too long, leaving black and purple blotches dancing across her vision. There was a screaming at the back of her head, white-noise which gnawed at her thoughts and made her want to do almost anything to shut it up.

“What are you doing, girl?”

With titanic effort, Ami lifted her head. It was the invigilator, yellow-eyed and with skin that looked like it had suffered an unhealthy case of sunburn. Her eyes were narrowed suspiciously, and her glasses gleamed menacingly in the light as she approached. Ami tried to say something to the darkest blotch in her vision, anything, but her words could only come out in an incoherent wheeze from lungs which refused to fill. She felt like she was drowning on dry land, each shallow breath never enough.

“What are you up to? Where’s this coming from?” she demanded. She waved a hand, disturbing the... mist? Ami blinked at her blearily. Yes, it was faint, but there were wisps of fog around her. Like little clouds, already dispersing into the air from the disturbance. She tried to frown, but her eyes only wanted to slide shut, and she was barely able to force them open as she felt herself sway dangerously.

The invigilator’s suspicion only increased at the lack of an answer. She scowled, one hand coming up threateningly as she demanded, “I _said_...”

“Halt! ... hah... hah... evil youma... hah... hah... hah... I won’t let... you... hah... man, why am I so out of _shape_... won’t let you... hurt... these innocent people!”

The woman paused, blinked, and turned. There was a girl standing in the doorway – well, leaning on it, really; bent over with her hands on her knees and panting heavily. She wore a shrine maiden’s outfit, and was drenched to the bone, rainwater dripping off her and forming puddles on the floor. Her blonde hair was plastered to her head, and she was shivering noticeably.

“Sh-should’ve t-transformed f-first, really...” she muttered, more to herself than the invigilator or the swaying Ami.

“Anyway!” Pulling herself upright on the doorframe, she pointed dramatically at the woman, as well as the classroom in general. “Education... is... hah... is a... thingie. Word. To be. Useful. These people are... are torturing themselves already. And they... urgh... don’t need you to make things... badder.”

The invigilator’s expression underwent a subtle change from ‘confused’ to ‘condescending’. She took off her glasses, snapping them closed and tucking them into a pocket. “And who might _you_ be?” she snapped, the air around her pulsing with each word. “Are you late for the exam?”

“Huh?” The girl paled in horror. “Ahh! No! I... I didn’t know! C-c-can I get... a... um... an extension?”

“Absolutely not!” The woman snarled, tensed, and _changed_. Her skin became brick red, her hair turned black and curled up and outwards, and her figure distorted and grew taller and bulkier. Ami whimpered, finally losing the fight against gravity and sliding off her chair.

‘Students who don’t study must be punished!’ the woman – no, the youma – snarled. It flung out its hand at the girl, and a flurry of exam papers shot towards her. She squawked in alarm and dived sideways – just in time to avoid the papers, which sliced cleanly through the doorframe she had been leaning on.

‘Insolent brat!’ it screamed at her. ‘Detention!’ Another flurry of exam papers sent desks clattering to the ground in pieces, bouncing off prone bodies. In response, a wooden sandal came sailing across the classroom, smacking into the youma’s head and sending it over backwards in surprise.

“Ha!” cried the girl. “Take that! And guess what? I don’t even go to this school, so you can’t give me homework!” She stood, apparently recovered from her exhaustion of mere moments ago, and pointed dramatically again. “Your exams are even more evil than the normal kind! And that’s pretty darned evil! In the name of the Moon, I will punish you!” She grabbed something from her pocket and raised it above her head. “Make _Up!_ ”

A blinding burst of light erupted from whatever she held in her hand, sending the youma stumbling back with a hiss. White and pink ribbons of light wrapping around her in a cocoon, which faded a second later. Left standing in its place, adopting a defiant pose, was ...

“Sailor... Moon?” muttered Ami. “But... that was... wasn’t that...?”

‘They are mine!’ the youma snarled. ‘Go away, moonling!’ It sent another flurry of razor-sharp exam papers at her, but she was ready this time, and ducked out of the way, allowing them to shoot past and shatter three of the rain-drenched windows.

Coming up from the roll with her tiara in hand, Sailor Moon aimed, drew back and flung in a single smooth motion.

“Moon Tiara Action!” she shouted.

The deadly disk of light soared through the air, curving in on the overextended, undefended youma. Its eyes barely had time to widen before the attack struck it clean on the neck and...

Tink.

... bounced off, harmlessly, reverting even as it did so from the deadly disk of razor-edged light to a spinning metal headpiece. Three pairs of eyes followed it as it rebounded off a desk, narrowly missed a fallen student, bounced up onto the windowsill, spun once and reflected the light for a brief moment.

Then, in an almost offensive anti-climax, it fell backwards, tipped over the edge of the broken glass and plummeted out of the third-storey window without a sound.

Silence reigned in the classroom for a good five or six seconds as all conscious parties considered this. Then Moon began to look very worried, and the youma began to grin.

“Oh no. No. No no no no no,” Moon said numbly. Then panic began to set in. “Uh... uh... Moon Tiara Return! Moon Tiara Come Back! Luna! Help! What’s the make it come back spell?”

‘No getting out of it! You’re going to _die_ now, little delinquent!’ the youma crowed. Its arm bulged, lengthened, and spread out, the colour shifting and the texture smoothing out until what had been a hand was a gleaming battle-axe on the end of a muscled appendage. ‘Stay still, and this should hurt a lot!’

Moon wailed for help and dived for cover as the axe blade came at her, whistling over her head and clipping a few strands of hair off one of her streamers. She hit the ground and rolled immediately, avoiding a follow-up strike that left the blade embedded in the floor mere inches from her shoulder. As she did, her eyes met Ami’s from across the room and held them.

Ami was weak, confused and terrified. But with the youma’s attention on Sailor Moon, the draining had stopped. And she was far from unobservant. Eyes wide with shock, she mouthed three syllables at Moon; a silent question.

‘U-sa-gi?’

Moon hesitated. Stared at the other girl. Glanced at the youma, which was kicking desks over, trying to get a good line of sight to her hiding spot.

And after a brief moment’s inner debate, her face transformed. Her jaw firmed, and the brimming tears dried up. She pushed the desk aside and stood.

“Hey!” she shouted. “Hey, you! Youma!”

The red-skinned monster turned on her, fangs bared. Moon quailed, her hand instinctively reaching for her absent tiara before remembering she had lost it, but she held her ground. “Y-yeah, you! You... were right!”

The youma paused. ‘Right?’ it asked suspiciously, yellow eyes narrowed. ‘About what?’

“I _did_ forget my homework! And I _didn’t_ study for the exam! And...” Moon’s eyes flickered to Ami, and she took a quick breath of courage. “ _And_... I’m about to cut class. So catch me if you can! Ha!”

And with that, she stuck out her tongue, pulled down her eyelid, blew a raspberry, turned on her heel and legged it at her top speed through the perforated doorway. After a moment’s stunned silence, the youma roared in fury and pursued her.

...

Ami lay on the floor, concentrating on breathing steadily, not throwing up, and making several rapid readjustments to her worldview. Okay. Okay, so that had been a monster. That in itself wasn’t... well, it wasn’t as surprising as it might have been. There had been rumours going around for a while, and quite a lot of accounts of the concert had mentioned a monster. And... and only dogmatic deniers rejected the existence of inhuman intelligent beings. There were reputable scientific reports of encounters with such things. What more proof did they want?

And the shrine maiden probably shouldn’t have been a surprise. That was a... thing, right? Shrine maidens fighting evil? She knew she’d read about more than once. Still, she’d been a little shocked when the girl had burst in and transformed into Sailor Moon, despite it seeming almost obvious in retrospect. Where else would a mysterious sickness-curing vigilante be training?

The girl’s _identity_ , though... that, she could freely admit had _completely_ blindsided her. She had not seen that coming. Usagi was... Usagi was quite a lot of things, from the short time she’d known the girl. She was compassionate and friendly to strangers, excitable and a bit ditzy over what Ami tended to call ‘normal girl-stuff’, abysmal at schoolwork and... kind of funny in her melodramatic complaints about it.

A shrine maiden, though, was not something Ami would have guessed her to be at a glance. A brave heroine of love and justice, even less so. But unless her eyes had been lying to her, the clumsy, bubbly, terrible-at-maths girl from the other day was Sailor Moon. And she was fighting a monster, right now, that she’d taunted and drawn off in Ami’s defence.

She pulled herself up, using the desk for support, but quickly found that her legs felt like water. Her bones just didn’t want to support her weight, and her muscles were jelly. Wincing at the ache, she pulled herself over to one of the fallen students and quickly checked his breathing and pulse, driven by desperate hope.

A moment later, she sagged and sighed in relief. He was alive. Not particularly _well_ , but alive. She hurriedly crawled over to the next one – good, the feeling was beginning to return to her legs – and checked him, too. A crash from above that sounded like something structural made her wince, but she didn’t stop moving or mechanically going through the first aid that hours of studying medicine had drilled into her until she was sure that every student in the classroom was alive. Unconscious, unwell, and suffering symptoms of something she had no idea of how to cure – as was she herself – but alive, and in no apparent danger for now.

Another crash from above. Ami took a deep breath, and forced herself upright. Her legs still felt wobbly, but at least they were working now. Gulping down air and wondering vaguely why she was doing something she was pretty sure was really, really stupid, she stumbled towards the corridor and began to follow the sounds of conflict upwards.

Towards the roof.

...

The sounds of battle got louder as she neared the apex of the school. From the damage done to the surroundings, it must have been quite a running fight. There were smashed lockers, perforated walls and deep slashes in the floor and ceiling. A punctured water pipe on the fifth floor was spraying freezing cold water across the hallway, and part of the ceiling had collapsed on the sixth. It was lucky that Ami’s class had been the last one of the day – there weren’t many other people in the building, and those that had been there seemed to have fled.

Despite the nagging feeling that she was being an idiot, Ami kept going. The floors were slick and wet under her feet, and everything she touched seemed damp. That was reason enough to keep on going, surely? If the building was so damaged to let in all this water, she needed Sailor Moon to help her get the others out.

It was on the seventh floor, a single set of stairs from the rain-drenched roof, that she found the fight itself. Or rather, it found her. An almighty crash resounded from above, along with a scream, and a white-clad form came into view through a window, hanging by one hand from a fire escape ladder that had been partly torn away from the wall, and was peeling away from the building. Sailor Moon looked somewhat the worse for wear, with grime and debris from several near misses staining her costume, and one or two tears marking where she had barely dodged in time.

“Lunaaaaa!” she yelled, attempting to change her grip to turn around and face the school again. “My powers aren’t working! Not working, Luna! _Why are my powers not working?!_ ”

‘You damaged your connection to the power you draw on with that spell at the concert!’ a female voice answered from somewhere nearby. ‘I _told_ you, your powers will be unreliable for days! Why did you come here?’

“Ami was in trouble!”

Ami blinked fuzzily, trying to shake the white-noise scream which was seeping back into her thoughts. Moon had... come here for her? Personally? Despite knowing her powers weren’t working properly?

“... also, I forgot! You only said it once!”

Ami rolled her eyes, but slid the window up and shouted as Moon managed to turn herself around. “Sailor Moon! Over here!” She stretched, but the girl was metres away, too far to catch her hand and pull her in. “Can you jump to me?”

“Ami-chan? Uh. No, I don’t think so! Ah, watch out!”

Ami pulled herself back in through the window at Moon’s warning yell, and a second later, a volley of razor-sharp paper flew through the area her head had occupied. She sagged down and almost fell, hyperventilating from the near escape. Moon twisted and swung desperately to avoid another volley sent at her.

“Lunaaaaaa!”

‘Yes, yes, I’m working on it!’ the woman – Luna, apparently – shouted back irritably. ‘Don’t risk the fall; with your powers fluctuating you might not be able to land safely!’

Quick movement from nearby drew Ami’s attention, but it was just a little black cat. She frowned, curious as to why an animal would be up here of all places, but brushed the thought off as not important at the moment. It seemed focused on her, though, and padded closer.

“Shoo, kitty,” she whispered softly, trying not to draw the attention of the _thing_ which was somewhere outside. “It’s not safe for you here. Go on, run away!” Her mind worked furiously, trying to figure out a way to reach Moon and get her back inside, and then beat the monster without relying on Moon’s evidently malfunctioning powers.

The cat didn’t leave, though. It reached out and patted her with its paw, and then locked steady eyes on her. No, at her forehead. Ami reached up curiously, touching the skin there. It felt... cooler than normal. And there was a glow, reflecting against her hand. The ceiling lights reflecting off something, maybe? Had she cut herself? Or was she just still wet from the burst pipe? She shook it off and glanced around the corridor, trying to find something that she could use to reach Moon and help her in. Some sort of long pole, or...

‘Ami!’

Ami about jumped out of her skin, and spun around, searching for the speaker. But there was nobody. The corridor was empty.

‘Here!’ the voice said again. It was coming from... her feet? Yes, it was the black cat, looking up at her with crimson eyes that had far too much intelligence for a normal animal. There was something at its feet, about the size of a pen, with a blue and silver casing.

‘Ami.’

It... it _was_ the cat. The cat was talking. And knew her name. Ami was more or less beyond shock by this point, but did manage to voice a wordless sound of confusion.

‘I know you’re scared and confused, but listen to me,’ it said urgently. The voice... was this Luna? The voice was the same one that had been answering Moon. ‘You are a Senshi, just like Sailor Moon. You are a child of Mercury. Take this talisman, hold it above you, and say “Mercury Planet Power, Make Up”! Help Sailor Moon fight the evil youma and protect the city!’

“Don’t listen to her!”

That got both Ami and the cat to double-take, and stare at Moon, still dangling outside the window. She had managed to hook an arm around the bottom rung of the ladder, putting more of the metal between her and the youma on the rooftop, and was trying without much success to pull herself further up. A hail of papers shot towards her anyway, but the rain was soaking them even in mid-flight, and they did little more than etch deep gashes on the highest rungs. The youma roared from the rooftop, but short of jumping into empty space, it couldn’t reach the girl it sought to kill.

“Don’t... gah... don’t listen to her, Ami-chan!” she called again, barely heard over the pounding of the rain. Thunder rolled, somewhere high above them, and she flinched, but continued. “You don’t have to do anything! Nobody will make you put yourself in danger if you don’t want to! Yaaah!” This last came as a lucky paper missile managed to slice through one of the support rungs. The entire ladder jerked, peeling further away from the building, and the shock broke her grip on the second rung and left her dangling by an elbow again, level with the window but metres away from it. They might as well have been miles.

‘... listen, you _are_ Sailor Mercury,’ the cat insisted, talking low and fast. ‘Sailor Moon is in grave danger, and needs your help. You are one of the soldiers of the Moon, sworn to fight the Dark Kingdom. You must...’

“No she isn’t!” insisted Moon, just as stubbornly. The cat sighed, but Moon kept on talking. “Or mustn’t, or... whatever! She might be able to be all that, but at the moment she isn’t! She’s Ami Mizuno, the smartest girl in the country, and a really sweet girl who likes studying and helping people learn! That’s the important part, not Mercury! I won’t let you pressure her into joining this fight, Luna! Ami! I’ll be fine on my own! If you don’t want to risk yourself, you don’t have to!”

A roar of triumph from above, a loud clang and another jerk from the ladder announced a second support rung being cut. The ladder began to lean dangerously to one side, creaking alarmingly.

“... but if you do decide to help then please could you do it really soon I’d appreciate it thank you heeeeeeeeelp!”

Ami looked from her to Luna, breathing fast and shallow, as rain hammered in through the open window and formed puddles on the floor, joining the water which was already pooling around her. The monster... youma... it was trying to kill her. It had tried to kill Ami herself. If she did this, she would no doubt be fighting other monsters, other things that would be trying to hurt or kill her, or worse.

But Usagi had been offered this. And she had taken it. She was clumsy, and ditzy, and honestly something of a crybaby. But she had been fighting to protect the city for weeks now, if the first sightings were accurate, and she had come to rescue Ami without a second thought.

And she was Ami’s friend.

There were a thousand other arguments for and against. They whirled in the back of Ami’s mind, countering and counter-countering one another, matching pro against con, risk against reward, right against easy.

She’d never had a friend before. Not like this, not really. She’d had acquaintances, yes, and older people who liked a smart little girl who listened and asked questions, but no real friends her age. But Usagi had waved off the accident, sat down with her, gasped and flattered her intelligence. She’d asked Ami for help – real help, not just wanting her to do the work for her – and she’d made it fun. More fun than just learning; she’d made it a game, told stories, laughed and joked and asked Ami about herself. She’d shown every sign that she found Ami interesting and fun to be around, that she enjoyed her company. That she considered Ami a friend.

She was Ami’s friend. And this monster was trying to kill her, because she’d come here in Ami’s defence.

The cat – Luna – was looking up at her, solemnly. ‘I won’t force you,’ she said, quietly. ‘But whatever you’re going to decide, do it now.’

Ami nodded. Closed her eyes. Breathed out slowly.

And when her eyes opened, they were full of steel purpose.

“Mercury Planet Power,” she intoned, snatching up the pen from Luna’s feet and holding it up. Her voice was as quiet as Luna’s, but every word was precisely articulated, as carefully shaped as a bullet slotted into a chamber. The pen grew cold in her hand, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. The coolness beckoned her, felt safe, felt right in her hands.

“ _Make Up_.”

And the world dissolved into ice and snow.

...


	13. It’s a Wash-Out! Mercury’s First Test!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A Test of Courage

She was immersed in a sea of raw power, surging and churning. It washed around her, surging and crashing like an ice-cool waterfall, wrapping her in an arctic blanket. She felt the frost fold itself into garments, but it wasn’t cold to the touch. There was no discomfort, no chill. Only calmness and security, as the white noise in the back of her mind dissolved, and she stood.

Sailor Mercury breathed out, and her breath frosted in the cooling air.

Her moment of profound contemplation of the powers unfolding within her was interrupted, however, by a loud creak and a scream from just outside the window.

“Heeeeeeeelp!”

Dangling by four fingers, Sailor Moon hung from the wreckage that had been a functional fire escape mere minutes before. Now it creaked and groaned in its death throes, the anchor points pitted and cut through by the youma’s assault. A flash of lightning lit the world in stark contrast, followed almost immediately by a boom of thunder directly overhead.

“Sailor Moon!” Mercury called, rushing to the window. The rain rolled off her clothing and skin like quicksilver, touching but not drenching. “I... I’ll get you down from there! Hang on!”

“That’s what I’m trying to do!” Moon yelled back, and screamed again as the fire escape groaned and sagged another foot. Mercury’s mind raced desperately, trying to find a way she could use what she had to save her friend. She could only see one. And it wasn’t a good one.

“Moon!” she called out. “Try and swing yourself and jump for the window! I’ll catch you!”

“What?! No! What if I miss?!”

“If you don’t, you’ll fall anyway!”

Moon hesitated for only a second before clawing a better grip and starting to swing her legs. The ladder protested at the movement, but panic lent her strength. It took only seconds for her to get a good back-and-forth rhythm going.

Unfortunately, that was long enough for the last bolt on the ladder to give out. The next few seconds were very, very crowded.

Moon shrieked and flung herself forward as the supporting strut ripped its way free of the buildings facade. She rose briefly upwards from the force of her swing, then traced a downwards arc through the air, plummeting towards the window that Mercury hung out of, arms outstretched.

And past it, still a metre or more outside Mercury’s grasp. She hit the window below it elbow first, bounced off with an “ow!”, and rolled in midair from the force of the impact. Her eyes locked onto Mercury’s for a second before widening in terror as she vanished downwards. A heartbeat later, with a tremendous shriek of tortured metal, the entire fire escape plunged after her. Even if the ground didn’t kill her, that much metal gave her nothing but a choice between being crushed or impaled.

Time seemed to slow as Mercury’s mind went into overdrive. She was peripherally aware of a scream – hers, perhaps – but disregarded it. That wasn’t important right now. Nothing was, except getting to Moon before she hit the ground. She just needed a way...

... down.

Time sped back up. Mercury’s eyes snapped closed. Feet first, she dropped through the pool of rainwater flooding the linoleum floor, leaving a shining coat of ice in her wake.

And from the water outside she rose, ice-water cascading off her, to catch Moon in her arms. The pair dropped back down as soon as they made contact, falling through a puddle less than a centimetre deep as if it were the surface of a lake. A ripple spread through it as they vanished, and the surface froze solid just in time for the falling heap of torn and twisted metal to crash into it with bone-breaking force.

Then there was only silence, but for the sound of settling debris.

...

Holding up a clawed hand to shield her eyes from the beating rain, the youma leaned over and peered down at the twisted pile of scrap metal. The moonling’s attempt to tackle her had been a wonderful boon for her job here. All she needed to do was go down and make sure the girl was disposed of, and then she would reap lavish rewards from her master. What had been spawning such weak, pathetic children? Well, it didn’t matter. She grinned to herself wickedly, already imagining it – status, power, a _title_...

But she wasn’t quite so far gone as to miss the crackle of ice behind her. Claws outstretched and arms spread wide to attack, she spun, snarling. ‘Who’s there?!’ she demanded, the air around her warping to demand an answer. ‘Give your name at once!’

Silence answered her for a few tense heartbeats. And then, ringing from the air across the rooftop, an answer came.

“I am the pretty soldier, Sailor Moon! Study schools are meant for raising grades your mother is threatening to ground you for! For using this place for evil, I’ll punish you!”

And a second voice spoke up in support, as the youma’s eyes widened in disbelief. “I am Sailor Mercury,” it said, and unlike the passionate words of the first, this voice was calm, cool and rang with deadly focus. “Knowledge should be treasured, and learning protected. For defiling the sacred trust between teacher and student, I will not forgive you.”

The temperature was dropping, but the something had caught the youma’s eye. Yes... yes, over there! A yellow hair streamer, just visible through a gap between an air conditioning unit and a water tower! Gathering power in her legs, she prepared to attack.

“Mercury Aqua Mist!”

The world went white.

Staggering back from the sudden blast of cold, dense fog, the youma swiped viciously at the air, clearing a small area of relative visibility around herself. Ice crackled, cascading like dandruff as she shook off the thin layer of frost that had formed on her skin from the rapid cold front. She looked around for the little chit who had cast whatever magic this was...

They were gone.

So was the entire building.

The mist was complete and total; denser than any she had ever seen. She could barely see more than a couple of metres before shapes and details blurred into half-seen silhouettes shrouded by the haze. She shivered, suddenly aware of the cold, and crouched lower in readiness for an attack.

There was no sound, either. Even the faint noises of her shifting feet were deadened; eaten by the mist before they reached her ears. She warily stepped forward, away from what she remembered as the edge. The rain was falling silently through the fog, all noise deadened, and the momentary flash of lightning far above was not followed by thunder.

‘Come out, moonling brat!’ she demanded, and the air pulsed around her again. ‘Face me! Dispense with this!’ But the magic layered into her words reached no further than the sound. She could feel it being stifled by the mist. She ground her teeth furiously, slashing ineffectively at the mist. Shapes seemed to dance just at the edge of her vision, tantalisingly close and just real enough to seem like her prey. Still, she was careful not to go charging blindly forward. A seven-storey fall might not kill her, but she would be in no condition to fight if she survived. And she had been so close to success! So close!

‘Where are you?!’ she screamed, enraged beyond reason at how her hopes had been snatched away.

Something whirled out of the fog and hit her. Hard. A spanner; the sound of its movement deadened until it was too late to dodge.

A sailor-suited figure stood where it had come from, a little closer than the shapeless silhouettes. Close enough to be sure she was real.

“I’m right here.”

...

The youma slashed at her, and Moon jumped back, her heart racing. As soon as she did, the monster slowed again, searching for her suspiciously. The mist really worked! The youma couldn’t see her!

But _she_ could see the _youma_ just fine.

The fog had initially blinded her when it had billowed out to cover the rooftop; white and thick and opaque. But then it had cleared, brightening and fading into transparency. Now, the only signs of it were the faint coils of mist that remained hanging in the air here and there, and the cerulean motes of light that hung in the air throughout the cloud, marking out where it was. It even deadened the smell of old rusty iron which hung around the monster.

To be honest, Moon was a little jealous _she_ didn’t get spells this cool. And the spells she did have weren’t very useful at the moment. Her tiara was somewhere on the ground at the foot of the building.

Still. They had a plan, or at least the beginnings of one. Well, okay, they didn’t. But they had a delaying tactic and an idea. At the moment they were at a stalemate – the youma couldn’t find them, and they couldn’t hurt her. But fog had a way of clearing, and Moon didn’t want to wait and see if that applied to magic fog as well.

“Hey, what’s the matter!” she taunted, edging forward and dodging out of the way of another running slash. Again, the youma slowed as soon as she got a few metres away, trying to pick her out of the coils of fog. “I thought you were gonna get me!”

Again she snarled and rushed to attack, and again Moon darted out of the way. But this time, it wasn’t Moon that darted back towards their enemy. Mercury slid past her and rushed away; an indistinct female silhouette in the fog, and the youma gave chase with a roar of fury.

Good. Now she just had to trust Mercury to do her part. With one last worried look at where the new Senshi was playing a deadly game of tag with the angry monster, Moon hurried over to the other side of the roof and began to breathe deeply. Her powers weren’t working properly, but they weren’t _gone_. She just couldn’t use them very well.

But Luna had said that she had powers other than spells like her tiara. More fundamental ones. What had Luna called it? Affinity? Something like that... whatever it was, it was what she used to purify and heal. And if their plan worked, that would be all she needed. Closing her eyes, Moon thought back to the concert and pictured the power that had flooded her then. She remembered the light she had used to fend off the thralls when Naru was attacked, and the cleansing burst she had destroyed the smoke-things with.

She grasped that feeling, and tried to recreate it now.

Light bloomed on her palms. It was very, very faint; a sluggish wisp that faded in and out erratically as she wanted it. But it was there.

Closing her eyes and focusing as Rei had taught her, Moon set about reinforcing it.

...

Across the roof, Mercury dived backwards and rolled awkwardly across the concrete surface of the roof. For all that she couldn’t see very far, the youma was disturbingly good at targeting sounds in the mist. She was getting better at it, too, acclimatising to the way her fog was clouding her senses. If she or Moon had _one_ decent ranged attack between them, the fight would already be over. But Moon’s powers weren’t working, and from the brief description she’d blurted out, Mercury could only hope that the lower-level ones she described would be less affected by whatever damage she’d done to herself.

Unfortunately, even if that assumption held, they would probably be strongest with contact, closest to their source. Which meant she had to find a way for Moon to get her hands on the blood-red monster without either of them being eviscerated. She was screaming abuse at the top of her voice, lapsing into some guttural, shrieking language that made Mercury’s ears hurt and scything at anything that looked remotely like a nearby figure. Mercury winced as one outburst connected cleanly with a drainage pipe, and cut it cleanly in two. Water gushed out, spilling over the sodden floor, and she couldn’t help but compare it to a severed vein.

No pressure, then.

The youma hadn’t seemed to notice that Mercury wasn’t the girl she had started chasing, which was good. Maybe she couldn’t see the lack of pigtails and the extra few inches of height in the mist – or maybe she could, and just didn’t care. Either way, she didn’t seem to have realised what Moon was doing.

She was definitely focused on murder, though. A wide spread of razor paper hissed towards Mercury, and only the fact that the fog didn’t hinder her let her dodge in time. She let herself drop through one of the puddles that dotted the roof, grateful for this particular power. The plunge into water was expected now, after several uses, and a single stroke was enough for her to break the surface again, rising from a puddle across the roof, behind her opponent. It was fast enough that she could actually see the attack whizzing through the space she’d occupied.

Normally, Mercury would be overjoyed at the possibilities offered by such a power. Of course, normally, she’d be freaking out over the hideous red monster trying to kill her for as-yet-undefined reasons, or the fact that her new friend was apparently a superhero, or the fact that she’d been given her powers by a talking cat. So it was probably for the best that she’d put most of her questions on the back burner for the moment. Instead, she was mostly irritated that she didn’t seem to have any powers she could _attack_ with. Moon had told her that she needed to slow the youma down and trap her. The beginnings of an idea were starting to form, but she needed a better way to herd the thing than just getting close and dodging. She really needed to have a sit-down with that magical cat and get it to teach her how to do things properly.

Something by her feet caught her eye. An old glass bottle, empty save for a little rainwater.

Well, it wasn’t a perfect solution. But it would have to do.

...

Wreathed in the maddening fog, the youma had attained a state beyond mere rage. All around her were the half-formed figures of prey, and yet she couldn’t grasp them! Something shifted in the white shadows beyond the edge of her vision, and she threw a volley of paper at it that would have torn an ordinary human to shreds, followed by a torrent of abuse that had no equal in any human tongue.

There was no satisfying sound of contact, no scream or scent of blood. Just the deadened patter of the rain, and another moving shadow. Spitting curses that could have pitted metal, the youma charged at it.

A glass bottle came out of nowhere from one side and shattered over her head. Screeching to a halt, the piece of broken concrete that followed it struck the youma clean in the eye. With a bellow of pure fury, she leapt, slashing down at the projectiles that kept coming, backhanding obstacles that loomed out of the mist aside as she advanced on the retreating figure she could just about see. They tripped and fell backwards, and with a snarl of triumph the youma sprung forward to bring both claws down on the helpless figure’s...

... steel, which shrieked and gave way like a matchstick. The youma blinked in confusion. There... there had been a girl there, sprawled out over the concrete, hands raised futilely to ward off her blow. Now there were just the sundered halves of a steel support. Where had she...

Something groaned, low and deep and _big_ , very big. A shadow loomed above it, growing larger.  
And larger. And larger.

The youma tried to throw herself out of the way. But it was too late. The huge, blocky shape that she had destabilised came toppling out of the mist, smashing down on her like a tremendous hammer. When the crashing stopped and the pain receded a little, she found herself trapped; pinned under a snarl of heavy metal and support beams. A broken fan on the fallen air conditioning unit spun sadly, whining on its axle.

Something approached through the fog. Something... bright. She struggled, twisting and jerking at the heavy weights pinning her limbs. But there was no leverage on three of them, and a figure materialised near her left arm like a ghost and pinned it to the ground with all their weight. The touch burned with cold, and the pool of water froze around the youma’s arm, fighting her attempts to get free.

The light came closer. It was moving almost torturously slowly, but even from halfway across the roof, the youma could sense the terrible, blinding source it stemmed from. Her thrashing intensified, but the debris held, and the girl’s grip on her one free arm remained.

“Sometime soon, Moon!” she yelled.

The lightbearer knelt beside the youma, hands cupping a radiant glow. The youma shrank away from that radiance, feeling it burning her skin where it touched, feeling the icy, white-hot burning already stripping away layers of skin. But there was no escape.

“I’m sorry,” whispered the moonling, and pressed her hands against the youma’s forehead.

Bliss-tempered agony filled every vein for a second; too foreign for pleasure, too overwhelming for pain, overloading every sense as the purifying power flooded her system and cleansed the corruption that had taken root there. Her iron-laced corpus charred as silver rushed through it, but the only sensation was a pressure, a slow building of tension. The feeling built and surged until the youma thought it would explode or be consumed... and then it reached a crest, and the iron taint was purged, and it was flying free...

Black sand settled softly on the rain-drenched rooftop; silent save for the sounds of the storm.

...

The archer balanced on an aerial on the next rooftop over lowered their bow. Impassively, the silver mask tilted to one side, raindrops dancing on the metal.

“Well,” Moonshadow said softly. “And now they are two.” It was impossible to tell from the tone what the figure felt.

A pause, and the mask turned slightly, seemingly addressing thin air. “Do you want to say something?”

Tuxedo Mask stepped out of the shadows behind a ventilation duct. “What do you want with her?” he asked bluntly.

“You’re very good,” Moonshadow complimented him. “I didn’t realise you were there until you gasped when the Mercury was nearly hit.”

“Answer the question.”

“What do I want with her? I could ask you the same.”

Tuxedo Mask blinked. “I...” he trailed off. “I know you,” he said, frowning. “From somewhere. Something about you feels very familiar.”

“Familiar? I suppose you could say that.” In a flash of light, Moonshadow dismissed the bow and hopped down off the aerial, landing silently and starting to walk away. “The fire lilies will blossom soon. Don’t look for her in this Age of Iron. I know where she is, and it’s almost time. She’s just waiting for a nudge to push her over the edge.”

Tuxedo Mask followed warily. Their path led them up to the low wall which ran around the edge of the building, and Moonshadow hopped up onto it.

“What do you know?” Tuxedo Mask asked flatly. “You seem to have quite the advantage on me there. Your powers are from back then... who _were_ you?”

“I know who’s hunting them,” Moonshadow said simply. “And so do you. Traitors.”

The cloak fluttered and Tuxedo Mask darted forwards to catch it and demand an answer. But too late. Without a sound, the figure stepped off the edge and dropped, vanishing into the rain.

...

The rain slashed down from the iron-grey sky. Beneath it, two figures danced across the rooftops in great bounding leaps.

“This is great!” Sailor Mercury declared, holding her arms up to the sky. She giggled, gesturing with one hand to call an arc of water up out of an overflowing gutter. Luna was wrapped around her shoulders like a black fur scarf, having sternly informed the girl that she was to keep the rain off.

“I know, right?!” Sailor Moon called back, landing lightly on the mount of a satellite dish before pushing off in another leap that took her onto the slanted roof of the next building. She paused there, looking around for a moment to get her bearings, then pointed and leapt again. Having never been there before, Mercury hadn’t been able to take them straight to the shrine with her water-transport trick, so they were roof-hopping the rest of the way.

The new Senshi drew level with Moon, leaping and landing in tandem with her. “So, not that I’m complaining about this,” she started, raising her voice over the sound of the wind and rain, “but why am I coming with you to wherever we’re going?”

“I might need you for protection!” Moon explained. “We’re facing an enemy much scarier than the youma! We’ll need all our skill just to escape alive! Well, it’s more that I’ll need all your skill backing up mine, or else I’m _doomed._ ”

Mercury’s eyes widened, trying to imagine what force could be greater and more terrible than the monster they’d defeated together, so soon after their last battle. “What enemy?” she asked nervously.

Moon took her attention off her for a moment to give her a serious, solemn look.

“ _Rei-senpai_ ,” she intoned, in a voice that rang with dreadful warning.

It took a second for this to sink in, and Mercury was just beginning to blink in confusion when their latest soaring leap from the top of a billboard landed them at the foot of a lightly wooded hill.

“Here we are!”

The rain was beginning to slacken off, though a stream of water still trickled down the steps of the Hino Shrine. Moon wrinkled her nose as she transformed back in the shelter of the bus stop on the other side of the road, her still-sodden miko robes appearing on her again as she lost the undefinable aura of power and grace that haloed her as Sailor Moon. Mercury followed suit, feeling the icy magic fall away from her – not absent or dormant as it had been, but gone into remission for the moment, until called on again. Her red blazer and green skirt were back, already speckled with water from the rain.

She really did look better in blue, Ami thought with a trace of sadness. And she’d left her coat at the school. And her bag! Oh no. She needed to go get them right away because she’d be in trouble if she lost them and... Ami drew a deep breath. Now was not the time.

“Usagi, you said we were going back to your home,” she said, trying not to fret over such relatively-unimportant things. It wasn’t phrased as a question, and yet it was one, and a mild rebuke besides. Usagi laughed nervously, one hand going behind her head.

“Y-yes, well, we just need to make a stop here first, that’s all. So, uh, just come on and let’s go up and I’ll introduce you to Rei-senpai, and then we can go back to my place and...”

She trailed off. Ami was frowning. “I don’t know...” she temporised. “I should probably be getting home myself soon. And I’m not... um... I’m not good at, well, meeting people. If you’ll only be up there for a little while, I’d rather wait down here for you to get back.”

“No no no, you have to come up and meet her! She’s really... uh...” Usagi searched for a word that would fit. “Um... she’s... hard-working! Yeah! Like you! You’ll... um... maybe like her?”

Ami looked doubtful. Usagi resorted to outright pleading.

“Pleeeeaaaase come up with me!” she begged, clutching at Ami’s hands. “If I don’t have you to back up my excuse for running off she’s going to _kill me_ , and I still need to get my clothes from the shrine! Pleee-”

Ami hesitated briefly, but couldn’t stand against the combined power of Usagi’s puppy eyes and pleading. “Oh, all right,” she sighed. “It _was_ a good reason to run off, and you’re legitimately unable to tell her, which isn’t your fault. And you did save my life, so I sort of owe you for that.” She smiled faintly. “Also, I now have paranormal powers thanks to your cat.”

Usagi grabbed her in a grateful hug. “Oh, thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you! I really wasn’t looking forward to being horribly sarcastuck!”

‘I’ll wait down here, I think.’ Luna spoke up. ‘It’s at least relatively dry under this shelter. Hmm. If I’m not here when you get back, assume I’ve found my own – drier – way home, and don’t wait up. I’ll meet you there.’ She gracefully uncoiled from Ami’s rigid shoulders and jumped down onto the seat of the shelter, curling up in an artfully chosen spot that shielded her from the rain and most of the wind. She twisted. ‘And I’m not Usagi’s cat. I’m my own being.’

Usagi nodded to her and let go of Ami, who’d been caught off-guard by the sudden contact. Grabbing her by the hand, she began dragging the girl across the road and up the steps as quickly as possible to avoid the rain. She kept up a constant stream of chatter as she went, and Ami had no real choice but to listen to it as she struggled to keep up. Whatever else might be said about Usagi’s physical fitness, she was certainly capable of setting a quick pace when the situation warranted it. Damp crows croaked at them from the trees.

“Is sarcastuck the right word? Or is it... like, sarcasticked at, or something? Are they even real words? They might not be. What’s the word for that thing she does, then, where she’s all hurtfully sarcastic at you for stuff that totally wasn’t your fault? Uh, not that she’s not ni- well, okay, she is sort of not nice... in fact she’s _really_ not nice sometimes, she’s an evil cruel horrible slavedriver who’ll just... just send you out to sweep this _whole_ flight of steps on your _own_ in the _rain_ , just for trying to help her out and be sympathetic! What’s up with that? And what’s up with the people who come here, huh? Don’t they know not to litter?

She paused for breath. “And- uh, wait, I mean, she’s not nice to _me_ , but you shouldn’t be scared of meeting her or not want to come up, I’m sure she’ll be nice to you, if she’s not too furious at me for running off and oh gods she’s going to _kill me_ , I should have... oh man, I should have stayed transformed... or you should have stayed transformed and told her you’d drafted me for, I dunno, some sort of super-secret Sailor Senshi thing that was really important. She’s all serious about magic and wards and the sacred fire and ‘arrange those talismans neater, Usagi, they’re a mess, you should know better than that’ and stuff, she’d totally buy it. And maybe...”

“Usagi!”

The voice cracked out like a whip, young and commanding and very, very annoyed. The sheer amount of irritation it managed to pack into one word made Ami a little more understanding of why Usagi had been so desperate for a corroborated alibi.

Usagi, for her part, reacted bravely and maturely as a gorgeous young woman wearing robes similar to her own – and not much less drenched – advanced on her from the main body of the shrine.

“Ahhh! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to run off!” Usagi grovelled, cowering. Desperately grabbing Ami, she placed the girl between herself and her advancing senior. “I got a phone call from her and she sounded like she was in a lot of trouble so I went to help her and she was and I did and then we came straight back here and I know I should have called you but I wasn’t thinking straight and I’m sorry please don’t hurt me!”

“Why did you have your mobile phone in your robe pockets?” the girl snapped, eyes narrowing as they raked Ami up and down.

“... because I forgot to take it out?”

“Hmph.” Rolling her eyes, the girl – Rei – gestured irritably for them to come onto the porch, out of the rain. “What was the trouble?” she demanded, no longer furious but still pinning them with a sharp, interrogating gaze.

Usagi’s expression froze. Ami came to her rescue.

“I was coming back from my cram school when I felt really weak and ill,” she explained. “My mother isn’t in Tokyo at the moment... I panicked. I couldn’t think of anyone else to call. I’m Usagi’s...” a second’s hesitation, “tutor, sort of. She came right away and helped me out, and then brought me here.”

Rei scowled, hands on hips. “Why here?”

Ami shrugged. “I’m not sure. My house is... well, some way away, and not really where I wanted to be after... what happened. I thought Usagi was taking me to her home, not here.”

Both pairs of eyes turned to Usagi, who chuckled nervously and picked at her sodden miko robes. “I, uh, needed my clothes?”

“Urgh.” Rei rolled her eyes again, and jerked her thumb back into the shrine. “Fine, you know where they are. And I’ll let you off this time. But next time you feel the need to do something like this, _tell me first_. When you didn’t come back in out of the rain, I was wo- I went to see where you’d gone. Out in the freezing cold rain. And got drenched. _Which I wouldn’t have had to do if you’d just told me that you were going to help a friend_.” She glared at Usagi, reinforcing this point. Cringing, Usagi nodded meekly and scuttled into the shrine to find her clothes and change.

“Leave your robes on the drying rack!” Rei called after her, then sighed and turned to Ami, who’d been taking advantage of the girls’ preoccupation to quietly study her. She really was gorgeous – enough to make Ami a little insecure about her own relatively plain looks – and had a drive and energy about her that made Ami certain that she was one of those people who excelled at almost anything they put their hand to. If she shared the name of her shrine, then she was probably the Rei Hino that had been mentioned in a few articles in the school magazine about inter-school competitions and the like.

She also looked _tired_. Her clothes were a little drier than Usagi’s and Ami’s own, but she still bore all the signs of having been as drenched as she’d claimed to be – reddened skin and chapped lips. A few dirt and mud stains on her hakama made Ami suspect she’d gone into the wood to either side of the steps in her search for Usagi, which in turn meant that she’d probably been a bit more worried than she’d let on. Unsurprising, really. Usagi hadn’t seemed particularly affected, but it was starting to edge towards autumn, and being out in such torrential rain for so long in clothing like those miko robes was a good way to get a cold, or even frostbite.

“So you’re tutoring her, then?”

The question broke Ami out of her train of thought, and she started. “Eh? Oh. Yes. It’s, uh, not exactly an official arrangement; we met at a library a little while ago and got to talking. She was having trouble with...” her lips twitched, remembering Usagi’s dramatic pronouncement, now laced with additional meaning, “well, everything, really. So I offered to help her study.”

Rei snorted, and Ami ducked her head in embarrassment. “That sounds like her,” the miko remarked. “You must be smart. I applied to...” she nodded at Ami, “but they didn’t... well, never mind.” She frowned as a thought struck her. “She’s not freeloading off you, is she?”

“What? No!” Ami’s head snapped back up, shyness forgotten at the implied insult to her new friend. “She’d never do that! And she can be bright when she applies herself! She just... needs pushing.”

A pause, and then Rei reluctantly nodded, conceding the point. “Yeah, okay, that’s true. On both counts. Sorry, I’m still... more than a little angry at her for running off, even if it was for a good cause.” She sighed heavily, massaging the back of her neck, and Ami again wondered how worried she’d been when Usagi had vanished without warning. “It’s just... strange things have been happening around here for the last year or so, and when she went missing...”

The girl in question now reappeared with as little warning as she’d originally vanished with; changed into a white and blue school uniform. Evidently she’d come straight to the shrine from school. “Okay, let’s go! Uh... sorry, Rei-senpai. I’ll make up for running out on you next time?”

“You’d better,” Rei huffed. But the effect was ruined by a flicker of concern crossing her face. “Still, it’s getting late, and the buses aren’t the safest. Are you sure you don’t want to wait here and call your parents to come and pick you up?”

Usagi waved her hands quickly. “Nooo no no no no, it’s fine! It’s not that late, and it’s not too far to walk. And Dad’ll be really tired, probably, so asking him to come get us would be unfair, and... we’ll be fine, honest.”

Rei eyed her suspiciously for a moment, but for once she was too tired to argue. Throwing her hands up in the air, she waved them off. “Fine,” she said. “Just as long as you’re in on time on Thursday. And no slacking off again.” She gave Ami a sympathetic look. “I know she’s a handful, so good luck. You’ll need it, dealing with her.”

...

‘You were very, very lucky. Both of you.’

Luna surveyed the pair grimly from Usagi’s desk as they sat side-by-side on her bed. Ami was looking somewhat dazed as the shock from the events of the day began to set in, and Usagi was looking rebellious, but she didn’t let that dissuade her. ‘Charging in to help a friend in danger is a noble act, but the way you carried it out was _foolish_ , Usagi. Rushing in to fight a youma without a plan, without backup, without contacting me and without your full power at your command? It is a miracle you were not both killed.’

“It wasn’t _my_ fault!” Usagi protested, a towel wrapped around her drying hair, then paused. “Well, okay, the concert... fine, it was my fault, but what was I supposed to do?! And you showed up anyway!” She pouted. “And I wanted... I mean, I _thought_ Tuxedo Mask would show up again and help if it was too much!” She threw her hands up. “Men!”

Ami blinked at that and frowned; curiosity overtaking shock. “How did you show up, actually? You were there to give me my pen, but you weren’t there when Usagi first appeared. If she didn’t contact you, how did you know what was happening?”

Luna raised an eyebrow at her; an interesting expression on a cat. ‘Your power was bleeding out into your surroundings as your soul was drained dry. I felt Mercury’s presence and rushed there as fast as I could. Luckily, I got there in time to awaken you, or Moon would have been in serious trouble.’ Usagi chuckled sheepishly, and Luna glared at her, winding up for another rant.

Ami didn’t give her the chance, though. “Okay,” she said, her gaze sharpening on the cat as the full weight of her mind kicked into gear. “That ties with what you said during the fight, about Usagi’s soul being damaged. What does that mean, exactly? Souls exist? Our powers stem from them somehow?” She glanced at Usagi. “And it was damaged during the concert somehow? How? Is damage to our souls something we need to be careful of? Will it heal, or... or will we need to find some way of repairing or healing her? I’m not sure anything I know of would be useful for that... maybe I could research mythology and folklore? There might be something useful in them, if magic really does exist on... this... scale...”

Belatedly, she realised both Usagi and Luna were staring at her, and shrank somewhat. “Uh, sorry if I’m being forward,” she muttered, hunching over a little.

“Huh? No, that’s really smart!” Usagi exclaimed. “I’d never have thought of all that stuff, they’re really good questions! Luna?” She looked over to the advisor, who was staring at Ami with an expression that mingled exasperation and nostalgia.

‘Hmm? Oh, yes, good questions all.’ She sighed. ‘I should have expected this, really,’ she muttered. ‘You’re the Mercury, of course you’re clever. They always are. And always ask _so many_ questions. Alright, answers... hmm. Quickest first... yes, Usagi’s soul should heal on its own, just like her body would. She’ll be back to normal within a week or so. You needn’t fear them being damaged unless you do as she did and flare your power so brightly that they manifest around you.’

Pausing to glare, she added, ‘Don’t, incidentally. That was not wise. There’s little reason to research mythology, though I doubt I can stop you. There may be a few grains of truth hidden amongst the dross, left over from the Empire, but not many. Time washes away all things. Time and silence. Though... to answer your central question, souls would be one such grain of truth, I suppose.’

She settled herself down comfortably on Usagi’s mousemat, admonishment temporarily put aside to enjoy the rapt attention she was getting. ‘Now, many of your religions and people have spoken of spirituality, but the ones who came closest to it were the Egyptians. Probably,’ she added with a glower, ‘due to contamination, though I never quite managed to prove that. More’s the pity. If I’d ever found which little... well, enough said. Anyway, while their conception was somewhat, hmm, crude, they got the essentials more or less... yes?’

Ami had stuck her hand up reflexively, and lowered it again as soon as she realised what she was doing. “Um... when you say the Egyptian understanding of the soul, you mean the five part structure? The... um, let me think... the Ib, the Ba, the Ren, the Ka and the, uh, Sheut?”

Usagi stared at her in awe, or possibly confusion. “Huh?”

Ami blushed. “I read lots. And remember pretty much everything.”

“I wish I could do that,” Usagi muttered.

Luna cocked her head, smiling. ‘Impressive recollection. Yes, though you’ve left out two – the Ha and the Akh, as the Egyptians called them. And Usagi is looking confused, so you should probably explain it to her in smaller words.’ This drew a pout from Usagi, but only for a moment before she swung back to Ami attentively.

“Uh... okay,” Ami started. “Um... I’m not sure how much of this is _right_ , but the Egyptians believed in five – well, six, if the Ha counts – souls in every human being. They were connected to, um, physical things. Sort of. Well, you’ll see. The Ib was sort of the metaphysical heart, and also the real one, in a way. They thought it was where... oh, emotion and thought and intention came from; where you did all your thinking and feeling. That was the most important one, the one that was weighed in a scale against a feather by Anubis. It didn’t have your memories, though, that was the Ba, which was sort of your personality and memories? Everything that made you unique. Your Ib was what you thought _with_ , but the Ba was all the personality traits that framed that and made you... well, _you_.”

She paused for a moment to make sure Usagi was following and glance at Luna, both of whom nodded encouragingly. Getting more confident, she continued. “Uh, the next one was the Ren, which was the Name. They thought that the name given at birth was part of the soul, and that it would live on as long as it was spoken – that’s why they were so keen on writing them down in a lot of places and making sure it survived. And also erasing the names of their enemies. The Ka was sort of the... vital essence, I suppose you’d call it the ‘spark of life’. Life force, in other words.” She paused again, turning to Luna. “Is that what the youma are draining?”

Luna nodded. ‘In part, yes, though they often draw emotional energy from the Heart as well. That’s why it’s crucial to stop them. A light draining will merely exhaust the victim, and they will recover with rest. Too much, though, and they will die.’

Both girls shivered. “Um, so...” Ami went on, “they thought the Ka was sustained through food and drink, which is why they left offerings to the dead – not in a physical nutrition sort of way, but more a spiritual one. It was... well, it was sort of like the Ka would take the bit of the food which keeps you alive when you eat it. And the last Egyptian one is the Sheut, the shadow. You’ve heard of people thinking cameras would capture part of their souls?” Usagi nodded tentatively, and Ami smiled. “Yes, that’s sort of the kind of thinking that went into that. The shadow, or image, or silhouette of a person contained something of what it represented.”

She looked over at Luna questioningly. The cat dipped her head, amused. ‘You’re not quite finished yet. The Ha and the Akh?’

“Oh! Right! Yes, um, the Egyptians didn’t see the body; what they called the Ha, as a soul exactly, just a sum of bodily parts, but apparently it was – uh, is one. And the Akh was... sort of strange. They thought that after death, if the right funeral rites were performed, the Ba and the Ka could sort of fuse together to make the Akh, like a ghost, which could be brought back as a roaming spirit. They could do bad things like causing nightmares or laying curses on tomb-robbers, or good things like blessing their families and intervening in disputes.”

“I... see,” said Usagi, in the voice of someone who didn’t. “So... all of that is real?” She poked at her chest. “Did I damage my Ib or something? Oh man!” Her eyes widened. “Am I gonna have a heart attack?”

Luna brought a paw to her face, exasperated. ‘No, no you are not. Wrong soul. Alright, short form – I’ll use the Egyptian names, they’re as good as any. Your descriptions are mostly correct, though incomplete. Your powers as Senshi are rooted in your souls – almost all of them. The one you damaged was your Ka, your life force. It’s linked to the Moon, just as Mercury’s is linked to Mercury, drawing on the power of a planet. When you drew on the depths of your power at the concert, that link manifested, and became vulnerable to attack. And if a youma tried to drain you of all your life force, it would be... explosive, let’s just say. And might well kill you too.’

“Uh...” Ami spoke up. “Doesn’t that mean we’re both working with very little power, compared to, say, Earth or Jupiter?” Usagi pouted at that, as Ami continued, “They’re both much larger, and... um...”

Luna eyed her. ‘It’s not as simple as a question of size,’ she said shortly. ‘I don’t understand the details myself, that was never my area. Suffice to say that you needn’t worry on that score.’

“Oh.” Ami seemed unsure of what to think of that, but nodded anyway. “Alright. Um. I should... probably be going home now. I’m still not completely sure tonight has been real, and I need to... oh no, I need to figure out how to explain this to my mother, when she...”

‘ _No!_ ’ Luna snapped, jumping to her feet. She paced back and forth, tail waving in agitation.

Ami started at the sudden shout. “Wh-what? I’m not going to leave her in the _dark_ about this! What would she think if something happened to me? I’ll help you against these youma if people’s lives are in danger, she’d want me to, but I’m not going to lie to her about doing so!”

‘Yes. You are. Ami, when you met Usagi in the library, did you recognise her as Sailor Moon?’

“Huh?” Ami blinked, looking over at her friend. “Um... no, actually. Come to think of it, I thought that was odd when I saw her transform. It’s not as though she looks any different.”

‘That’s because she’s not.’ Luna explained testily, pacing up and down the desk. ‘Your identity protection is based on your Ren. You have two, rather than one; while you’re transformed you use the Name of your planet. It overrides your mortal Ren, and the two are unconnected. It’s all but impossible to connect the two as being the same person.’ She tilted her head. ‘Don’t tell me you didn’t notice you were thinking of yourself differently when transformed?’

“Ah!” Usagi yelped, flinching. “I didn’t notice... ah! That’s _weird._ ” She massaged her temples. “How... ah! I wasn’t thinking of me as me! I was thinking of me as me but the me who was me wasn’t me, it was me!” Luna glared at her, and she winced. “Sorry, sorry, I’ll keep it down. But still, argh,” she muttered.

“Then what’s the problem?” Ami objected, still riled. “She won’t _tell_ anyone, she’s a doctor! She already works under patient confidentiality for personal data. Letting slip that I’m Sailor Mercury would put me in _far_ more danger than a breach of trust at work, and she’s never done that.”

Luna sighed. ‘I know, and I trust your opinion of her. But just knowing would be enough. The Ren exists as a... oh, you’d need to talk to a scholar about it for the details, but it exists in the minds of others. If someone knows that Ami Mizuno and Sailor Mercury are the same person, then that is a bridge between the two, tying them together. The more people know, the closer the two Rens come to being one and the same. Every person you tell, even if they guard the secret with their lives, will weaken the secret. As Senshi, the protections on your souls prevent you from doing so to one another, so I’m the only weak point as it stands. But you _must_ avoid letting anyone else figure it out.’

“I...” Usagi began uncertainly. “I’m not sure whether Naru knows. I mean, she was there for my first fight as Sailor Moon, you remember? I think I turned back in the shop, and I don’t know if she was all the way unconscious. She didn’t _say_ anything about it, but she was... odd, for a while afterwards. Would it still work if she’d, like, thought it was a dream or something?”

Luna considered for a moment. ‘Hmm. No, I think we’re safe on that score. Once the protection is breached, it no longer functions. If she’d seen you transform, even if she thought nothing of it at the time, she’d recognise you in your transformed state the next time she saw you. Still, though, you understand the importance of keeping this a secret? If your enemies know who you are, they will not hesitate to attack you in your homes. Ruthlessness runs deep in their ilk; I know them of old.’

Ami raised her hand again, though only halfway before she realised what she was doing. “Uh... that’s the third time you’ve mentioned the past like that. Are you implying that our powers come from some ancient empire?” She frowned. “There are no records of anything like this, and you spoke about Egypt like it was younger... do you mean something pre-Katastrophic, then? And... wait, when you said _you_ never managed to prove it was contamination... how old _are_ you?”

Luna froze for a moment, and her tail dropped from its alert position. ‘Ah...’ she began. ‘Your powers do stem from an empire, yes. Long dead, though I suspect whatever you’re imagining is far from the truth. It’s not really...’

Someone knocked on the door, and all three occupants of the room jumped, Luna vanishing off the desk and skidding to a halt beside the radiator, where she began quietly washing herself and ignoring the humans in the room. The door swung open before Usagi could say anything, and a tray laden with snacks and two glasses of lemonade entered, followed by Ikuko. Her hair was damp and she was wearing a grey dressing gown, suggesting that she too had got drenched out in the rain on her way back from work. Ami seemed to shrink slightly in response to the new arrival, folding in on herself and looking down uncomfortably.

“Hello,” she said to Ami cheerfully. “Usagi snuck you up here quickly, so I thought I’d bring you both some snacks and get an introduction.” Her eyes flicked over the wet school uniform Ami still wore – red blazer with a a green bow, and a darker green knee-length dress. “Friends from school?” she asked with a sceptically raised eyebrow. “And dear, you can take that blazer up and hang it up to dry.”

“U-uh, no!” Usagi hurried to explain. “No, no, we, uh, met, uh, wait, sorry, no. Ami, this is my mum. Mum, this is Ami! Uh, we met in the library yesterday, when you made me go because my laptop was broken? She helped me out with studying and then called tonight because she felt ill when she was coming out of class and her mum isn’t in town at the moment!”

“Oh, you poor dear,” Ikuko sympathised, immediately snapping into maternal mode. “Will your father be coming to pick you up?”

“My dad... um... isn’t around,” Ami mumbled quietly, eyes fixed on the spot of floor they’d found as soon as Ikuko entered the room. “It’s just me and my mum, and she’s at a conference.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry.” Ikuko thought for a moment and nodded decisively. “Well, if you’d like to stay here overnight, you’re welcome to. If you’re feeling ill, you should probably take it easy, and an empty house is no place to recover from a bug.”

“Oh!” Usagi perked up. “And you can help fix my laptop, too! Uh, I mean, could you? It kind of... exploded.” She paused. “Not literally exploded-exploded, but it’s not working and I don’t know why!”

Ami frowned, but nodded. “I can have a look,” she agreed quietly, reaching for the machine in question and flipping it open. “Did it say anything about how it wasn’t working?”

Usagi shrugged. “It was something like ‘hard drive not found’ or something. And I knew that didn’t make any sense because it’s not like I’d taken anything out or anything.”

Ami nodded. “Well, it seems to be booting now. My guess is that you’ve got a loose connection in there, which means that if it gets knocked, it might crash. I can take a look in the case and check, but I want to just try out a few things to make sure everything else is working fine. It’s being very... slow to boot.”

The screen changed, and Usagi cheered. “It’s working, you... wait, no, I don’t recognise that either.”

“Give me a minute...” Ami murmured. “This is a _mess_ , I don’t think I want to know what you’ve been doing to it...”

Ikuko beckoned Usagi over and lowered her voice a little. “Usagi, dear? Is there anything you, ah, want to talk to me about?” Usagi looked confused, and she waved her hand vaguely. “Just... anything that’s been happening recently. That new job of yours, or your new friend here? A day and a half is a very short time to invite her back home.”

“Mum!” Usagi hissed. “It’s... it’s not like that! Honestly!”

Ikuko grimaced, and closed her eyes for a moment. “Of course not, sweetheart, I just... if you need to talk to me about anything, anything at all, I’ll listen. And I’ll love you no matter what. You know that, don’t you?”

Usagi squirmed. “Yeah, I know, but...”

Ami saved her with a wordless sound of frustration, and Usagi gratefully leapt away from her mother to focus on her. Then took a step back at the glare Ami was pinning her with. “Ami! Uh. Um. Yes?”

Taking a deep breath to calm herself, Ami gestured at the screen, where Usagi’s browser was open. “Firstly, _why_ do you have no password? Secondly, _why_ are you running on an admin account all the time? Thirdly... Usagi, do you ever _use_ any of these toolbars? Just... just _why?_ ”

Usagi peered at the plague of icons, which took up most of the top half of the screen. “Uh... not exactly? I just try to ignore them, mostly. I’m not... _entirely_ sure what all of them do.”

“Urgh.” Ami sighed, straightening up from where she’d been hunched over the keyboard and glaring at Usagi imperiously. “Alright, here’s the deal. I will fix your computer – quiet!”

Usagi stopped cheering and dancing, and meekly sat down again.

“I will fix your computer, and in return, you promise to make sure I don’t have to fix it again. You don’t install _anything_ on it without my say-so, okay?”

“But...” Usagi protested. Another icy glare silenced her, and Ami kept on talking. “Based on what I’ve seen in a cursory inspection, if I give it back to you fixed, you’ll just break it again. I bet you even download free smilies from popups.” Usagi looked guilty, and she rolled her eyes. “I thought as much. So instead of spending all my time fixing it for you, if you want or need something installed – even so much as a computer game – you will ask me for permission, and then _I_ will do it _properly_. Or, alternatively, I fix it once now, and then never again. Which will it be?”

“...” said Usagi. “Uh... um... urgh, fine. I no longer own my laptop.” She tilted her head. “But... it’ll work better now?” Ami nodded, and Usagi gave her a cautious smile. “Okay, so, uh. Yay?”

“Well,” said Ikuko from where she’d been watching the two in amusement. Ami jumped and shrank back down again, and Usagi squeaked in surprise. “You two seem to be getting along well, so I’ll leave you to it, shall I? Oh, and I’ll feed Luna too. I’m sure the poor dear doesn’t want to be cooped up here and go hungry while you two have food to snack on, hmm?”

...

Luna relaxed as Usagi’s mother scooped her up, supporting her hind legs properly. The woman clearly had some experience with pet cats, thankfully. She’d had to teach Usagi how to hold her properly.

“I think we should go watch some TV, shouldn’t we, Luna?” Ikuko asked her playfully, stroking her. “My husband’s out at some work thing which his boss wants everyone to show up at. And my children aren’t so cute anymore and prefer to stay up in their rooms playing on their gadgets. But that’s all right, isn’t it? Us old ladies can watch some television together, can’t we?”

She paused as she left the room and made her way down the stairs. “And listen to me,” she said, with a slightly forced laugh. “I’m talking to a cat.”

Luna relaxed slightly at that. Just for a moment, she could have sworn that... but no. And there was no time to dwell on the past. It was just a coincidence, nothing more. Ikuko’s thumb stroked her head in steady, firm strokes, and she purred her contentment as she was deposited on the floor near the bowls, which were sadly empty of food at the moment.

Click.

Luna glanced up at the faint sound. Ikuko had locked the door. She stood facing it for a moment, her hand resting on the handle, before briskly turning and striding across the kitchen. With two quick, efficient jerks, she pulled the curtains closed. Then she turned to Luna, leaning forwards.

“So,” she said with a bright, brittle, slightly strained smile. “It’s been a while since I had a partner to trade gossip with. Since Hyouka-chan moved away, I suppose. So now that we have some privacy, why don’t we have a little chat, just us two?”

Luna’s hackles settled. Slightly. Something very odd was going on. Ikuko was not behaving normally, for what Luna had seen of her. Cautiously, affecting the lack of regard for humans that came naturally to every cat, she took her eyes off the woman and strolled over to the water bowl, lapping at it. It was filtered, not tap water. Had Ikuko not been watching, she would have nodded in approval.

“I thought I could start by sharing something I heard earlier this afternoon,” continued Ikuko, undeterred by the lack of attention she was being given. She tucked a few stray strands of frizzy white hair back behind one ear. “Well, I say heard. ‘Overheard’ is more like it. Bad of me, I know, but it was an accident. And it cleared a lot of things up.”

Luna froze. Footsteps crossed the floor behind her, stopping within arm’s length of her.

“Things about the strange attacks that have been on the news recently. Things about some of the odd behaviour lately. Things that I didn’t notice as abnormal at the time, but all of a sudden seem much more obvious, and much more unusual. So I thought we’d talk, you and I, Luna, about my daughter.”

Very slowly, Luna turned around. Ikuko crouched before her, closer to her level, but it was obvious she wasn’t doing it to put Luna at ease. Through the window behind Usagi’s mother she could see the moon for a moment, before the clouds cast their shadow again. Her expression was a rigid mask, concealing a whirlwind of emotion – fear, confusion, shock and anger. Luna couldn’t read them all, there were so many.

Uncertainty, though, was noticeably lacking from the mix. And if the familiar expression didn’t affirm it, her next words did, as she finished in cold, hard tones that left no room for argument.

“My daughter. Sailor Moon.”

...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Image by [Shyft9](http://shyft9.deviantart.com/)


	14. Gone Shopping! A Fun Day Out at the Mall!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Law and Order

Three days on, and the memory of power still lingered over the building for those who knew how to sense it. Vicomtesse Hubnerite leaned against a wall, lurking outside the pools of light from the streetlamps, and wrinkled her nose as a whiff of ice cut into her senses like a dagger. The psychosomatic scent made her jaw ache and gave her a faint headache. Worse still were the traces of a light so pure and bright that it made her eyes water.

Her nostrils flared, and her eyebrows rose. There were two scents, though.

That was interesting.

She pulled her hands out of her pockets, and crouched to examine the mess of twisted metal that still hadn’t been cleared away from the cram school’s grounds. Tilting her head up, she peered through the darkness at the roof it had fallen from and frowned. After splashing the toe of her boot through the puddles that still lingered under it once or twice, the short Chinese woman headed inside, her mouth a thin line.

The lobby of the building was as dark as the night outside, but Hubnerite could see it as clear as day. She paused for a moment as she saw the cameras mounted in discreet positions on the ceiling, and a delicate eyebrow arched.

With a vaguely annoyed sigh, she pulled her shadow in. The darkness rippled around her feet, and her reflection in the windows rippled in time with it before fading into nothing. With a satisfied nod, she set off again for the stairs, her steps soundless in the echoing confines of the empty building. The electronic gaze of the cameras passed over her as though she were a ghost.

The yellow and black police tape cordoning off the upper floors didn’t even receive that paltry acknowledgement from her. Ducking under it casually, the small woman strolled leisurely through the building until she reached the classroom the conflict had started on. The same sharp scent of ice and cold mornings lingered around the room, diffuse and scattered.

Hubnerite pursed her lips and made a few quick gestures, whispering under her breath, before tapping one of the surviving windows. The room’s reflection rippled and warped, settling on a very different scene. She eyed the stern teacher moving through the room and watched impassively as the students began to crumple to the floor. The door flew open, admitting a young blonde girl who wore the attire of the pathetic servants of modern false temples. She challenged the youma briefly and ineptly, barely avoiding its attacks, then stood up and...

The window exploded. Hubnerite flinched backwards, hissing in surprise and pain as a flying shard of glass lacerated her cheek. What had _that_ been? The image hadn’t faded – it was still recent enough that it only took a little more power than usual to dredge from the echoes of the room’s recent past. No, it had _shattered_ , unable to contain what it had tried to show. What could...

Her eyes narrowed suddenly, and she headed quickly upstairs, following the trail of destruction without stopping to examine it any further. For a suspicion of this magnitude, she’d need something rather more concrete to analyse. The running fight had apparently ended at the roof, and the windy night did nothing to dampen the scent of ice magic and the unmistakeable traces of a purification rite. One powerful enough to turn her headache into an oppressive pain behind her eyes.

Half-buried under a collapsed metal structure was a sad little pile of iron dust and sand. Hubnerite rolled her eyes in distaste. The stupid thing had either let itself be lured into a trap, or been struck by the consequences of its own collateral damage. Either way, it was a disgrace to the Dark Kingdom. She picked up a pinch of the stuff and let it run through her fingers assessingly. Her fingers almost went numb at the mere touch, and she let it trickle through her fingers again as she considered.

It wasn’t enough to go back to Jadeite with. It wasn’t even enough to confirm her guess. Lunar and Mercurian magic, a great deal of power, a blonde temple girl and a shattered window. But if she was right...

... if she was right, then this assignment had just become _considerably_ more complicated. Granted, her foes were obviously immature, not yet comfortable or capable with their power.

But even an immature Senshi was still a Senshi. And if those hateful, ancient witches had returned, who knew what other remnants from that time might be lurking beyond the world’s edge? How many of their servants might still be waiting, dormant, awaiting the call of reborn tyrants in places beyond this sphere?

This was too important to risk ignoring, she knew. It would have to be investigated. And for that, she needed something more than second-hand records and dead youma to examine. Eying the city lights, Hubnerite drew an obsidian knife from her belt and positioned herself between the brightest light source and a fairly clear patch of floor. Then she crouched down slightly and made two quick, economical slashes at her feet.

Her shadow, etched on the roof in front of her, flickered for a moment and drifted away from its tethers. Then, slowly and painfully, it sat up. It filled out as it climbed to its feet, colour bleeding across its features, depth flowing out from what had been merely height and width. After a few moments of metamorphosis, a perfect duplicate of Hubnerite stood before her.

“Find somewhere nearby, in the same area as the previous attacks,” Hubnerite commanded it. “Somewhere frequented by children and teenagers. Commandeer a few expendable youma and start something noticeable. Observe those who come to stop it and return to me at all costs. Do not be followed.”

The doppelganger nodded once. And then Hubnerite was alone again on the roof, with only the night and the shadows for company.

...

Others in the city had their own mysteries to wrestle with. The next morning was a Saturday, but the weekend was no escape from torturous mental exercise.

“So... the ball is accelerating at two metres a second... and the slope is fourteen metres long... so the answer is... seven?”

Ami raised a sceptical eyebrow. “Seven what?”

“Uh...” Seated at her desk, Usagi looked around to see if any help was going to be offered. Ami was watching calmly from a beanbag beside her, and Luna; curled up on a pillow in the middle of the bed, gave her a flat look that suggested no aid was going to be coming from her quarter. “Seven... numbers? Look, I don't think it’s very fair how we’re expected to... to use letters as well as numbers in maths now!”

Ami sighed and closed her eyes for a moment. She’d tutored people before, but Usagi had a way of testing one’s patience like nobody she’d ever met. “I don’t understand how you can throw that tiara around and calculate angles and trajectories like some sort of savant, but not understand the theory behind what you’re doing,” she said. “Look, we went over it here. Distance, starting velocity, ending velocity, acceleration, time. As long as you have any three of them, you can calculate the other two.”

“Okay... but I only have two! Oh wait... hang on... ah! It’s...” Usagi looked cautiously sideways at Ami’s face for signs of approval. “It’s... starting... from being still? So the starting speed is... nothing?”

“Right,” Ami smiled. “Well reasoned. So you look at the equations for the one that has distance, starting velocity, acceleration and time...”

“This one.”

“Exactly. And then you rewrite it so that it’s in the form ‘time equals...’ and then something you can plug the other three into. Okay?”

“Got it!”

Ami left her to it, and turned back to Luna, picking up where she’d left off. “So the Disguise Pen can’t make you look like a specific person, then? Just general professions or recognisable subcultures; that sort of thing.”

‘Yes, more or less. It overwrites your Ren with a generic artificial one – something like a nurse or a reporter is a well-known job so it has plenty to work with, while “astrophysicist” wouldn’t be nearly as effective.’ Luna sighed, her eyes going misty for a moment. ‘It’s a form of magic you could conceivably learn yourself – Ren-singing was once widespread, and weaving a false Name like this wasn’t beyond the reach of humans who applied themselves to study. But the art has been lost.’

Ami pursed her lips. “I don’t like how you refer to humans in that way which seems to exclude me and Usagi,” she said. “I know you said that we were ‘human, but more’, but…” She trailed off. In the three days since the fight at the cram school, Luna had shown a remarkable talent for evading questions she didn’t want to fully explain. Especially, to Ami’s irritation, anything about exactly how old she was, despite both subtle and not-so-subtle prodding. Ami refused to accept that it was merely a question of a lady not being prepared to give her age.

This attempt to get a plain answer fared no better. ‘And that is what you are. But even normal humans – those born without natural magic or who lack augmentations like your own – could learn this.’ Luna yawned. ‘It would be easier for a spirit-born, of course. They have little in the way of longevity, but they have an edge of power from their inhuman heritage. In the days where spirits still walked the Earth, many children were born from their coupling with humankind. Such infants were always a little... more than human.’

She turned to eye Usagi. ‘That shrine maiden friend of yours? She shows hints of it. A touch of the Sight, an unusual amount of spiritual strength for one so young... not to mention those thrice-damned crows. Pureblood cousins, perhaps, with a spiritual parent or grandparent. I wonder if she knows?’

Usagi blinked, looking up from her homework in surprise. “Wait, Rei-senpai might be half magical crow spirit?” She cocked her head, considering. “... yeah, I can see it. She’s certainly mean enough sometimes.” She frowned. “I don’t think her grandfather is one, though,” she said, disapprovingly. “Spirits don’t act like him.”

Ami gave her an odd look, but pushed on. “Okay, so... could we turn ourselves into, say, pretty JSSDF soldiers? What sort of equipment could the Pen provide us with if we did?”

Luna raised her head in surprise, quirking an eyebrow as far as the features of a cat allowed. ‘Why in heaven would you... oh, I see your logic. Hmm. Yes, but it wouldn’t work in the way you’re probably thinking. Guns aren’t effective against any youma worth their salt – the trash that you and Moon fought earlier this week might be slain by such things,’ Usagi pouted slightly at the description of the creature as “trash”, ‘but a youma of any real power would not be so easily cowed.’

‘More to the point, you’d be vulnerable. Mundane armour is nowhere near as protective as your Senshi transformations, and you’d have none of the strength and speed that you do when transformed.’ She shifted position, her tail coiling languorously behind her. ‘Anyway, the point is moot. The Pen can only overwrite a single Ren at a time. That’s also why it’s mutually exclusive with your Senshi transformation, actually – it can’t hope to overwrite the Name of a planet.’

“Do the other planets have Senshi as well, then?” Ami asked quickly, lighting up. “Because I was looking at a few sources on Palaeolithic art, and they certainly knew about the planets out to Neptune, and there are a few cases of figures being associated with them, which are linked to Palaeolithic conceptualisations of the ‘Mother Goddess’ and...”

She tailed off as Luna held up a paw. Silence fell for a moment, save for the sound of Usagi’s scribbling and maths-cursing muttering, as the cat mustered her thoughts. As it stretched on, even that background noise tailed off as Usagi looked up in interest.

‘... yes,’ said Luna eventually. ‘There are Senshi besides you. Or were, rather. One for each planet apart from Earth, and then one for the Moon.’ She nodded at Usagi. ‘Though only the inner planets and the Moon were inhabited. Only you two have come into your inheritance so far.’ She looked pensive. ‘I wish I knew where the others are.’

Ami blinked. “What are you defining as a planet? Because dwarf pl…” Then she blinked again. “Wait, what?” She rocked back onto her beanbag and half-turned towards the desk. “Uh... Usagi? I think your cat has read too much sci-fi. I mean, I can accept that Palaeolithic civilisations had magic because… well, I transformed into an avatar of Mercury and used paranatural abilities to fight a monster. But _space travel?_ Really?”

Luna shot her a scathing look. ‘Do not be so quick to mock. Modern magic is but a weak, pale reflection of what once was common. Great canals connecting the planets that allowed ships to sail between then in mere days, castles in the void, glamours making barren worlds lush and fertile... all ruins at best, lost like ash in the breeze.’ For a moment, the cat seemed very old and very sad.

‘Hmm. But... yes, I just hope we can find the others, especially the inner guard. The Venus, the Mars and the Jupiter would be valuable additions to our group. Every last one of them was a formidable combatant, even if the women themselves were...’ She trailed off, her tail lashing agitatedly.

‘Well, anyway. The Uranus and the Neptune would be even greater allies if they took after their predecessors, but I am… even less certain of our ability to locate them. Their powers were shaped to pass unseen to the eyes of the youma and any who would seek them out. I doubt I could recognise their reincarnations, especially if their inheritance was still dormant.’ She paused, seeming hesitant and almost nervous. ‘Of... the others, I will not speak. Save to say that you should pray you never meet them. Were they to walk this world in the full of their powers... well, it would be an ill omen. Such is all I shall say on that topic.’

Ami opened her mouth eagerly to ask for more detail, but something about the tone of Luna’s voice stopped her. It wasn’t exactly hostile, but it gave the distinct impression that she wasn’t kidding about refusing to speak further on the mysterious other Senshi. “Well... alright then. It sounds like… like the Venus, Mars and Jupiter – why do you use the definite article? – are our best bets. How do we find them?”

Luna winced. ‘I’m... trying my best. It’s not as easy as it might sound. There’s little that the two of you can do to help – well, unless Usagi literally runs into another of you.’ She paused. ‘Which I suppose isn’t implausible. You may well be drawn to one another. Keep an eye out for strangers who seem familiar, but otherwise leave it to me. I’ll let you know if any of the leads I’m looking into turn up something solid.’ She paused. ‘And I use the definite article because it is a title of sorts, as well as…’

“Three point seven four seconds! Hah!” Usagi yelled, standing up abruptly and sending her chair skidding backwards. “Take that, maths homework! I _win!_ I’m _free_ of you and your stupid complicated equations and stuff! So there!”

She spun around giddily and yelped in surprise. “Ahh! I... uh... forgot you two were there.” She rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. “A-anyway, Luna. I’m free of horrible homework now – thank you Ami so much for helping me! – so I’m off to meet Naru at the mall. Oh! Ami! You should come!” She looked Ami up and down, taking in the pink cardigan and green skirt. “We could give you a makeover and get some new clothes... I think there’s a sale on at one of those cute little quirky shops. And I bet you’ll like Naru! What do you say?”

Ami opened her mouth to politely decline, but Usagi was a bubbly cyclone of enthusiasm, and somehow between brain and mouth the words mutated to become a small “okay”. Usagi cheered in delight, grabbed her in a hug, threw on a blue jacket over her t-shirt and shorts and tugged Ami to her feet.

“Awesome! Come on then!” Throwing open the door, she called out in the rough direction of the kitchen as she trampled downstairs. “Mom! Ami and me are done with homework, we’re going out to meet Naru at the mall, okay?”

“Alright,” Ikuko’s voice came from the opposite direction. Usagi yelped, spinning around to find her mother walking down the hall with a bundle of papers in hand and a cordless phone cradled between her ear and shoulder. “Don’t spend too much, though, and be back for dinner. Oh, no, just my daughter, don’t worry about it. How soon can you get the permissions out? And do we have an estimate on the budget revisions yet? I understand they’re saying it’s an emergency, but this is the weekend and… yes, yes, I do understand.”

“Mom’s head of one of the town planning departments,” Usagi whispered to Ami. “Best not to disturb her when she’s on the phone with work; she gets super-scary if you do. Come on, let’s go before she remembers to give me a proper curfew.”

“Dinner is at six!” Ikuko called after them as they put their shoes on and slipped out through the front door. “If you miss it, you’re not eating!” A distant cry of frustration assured her that Usagi had got the message, and she smiled faintly as she finished her call. Looking out through the window as the pair strolled off down the street, she sighed morosely. A furry presence brushed against her ankles.

“You’re sure I can’t tell her?” she asked, though she was already sure of the answer.

‘Please don’t.’ Luna jumped up onto the counter beside her. ‘I need her focused. And I need her to think that she can’t let _anyone_ know, because... well, you know her better than I do. If she can’t see any immediate consequences from one person knowing, can you honestly tell me she won’t think it’s safe to share the secret?’

“... no, I suppose not.” Ikuko pulled a chair over with her foot and sat down, playing with a wooden spoon from the kitchen counter. “Well, at least I can be someone she can go to when she needs to be normal. Just... keep me updated on what she’s doing? I’ll feel much happier if I don’t have to try and piece it together from the news. Even if I suspect I’ll regret knowing some of it.”

‘I’m keeping an element of need-to-know,’ Luna deferred. ‘But... yes, alright. And another pair of eyes looking out for... strange goings-on wouldn’t go amiss, anyway. You’re on the town planning department? Keep an eye out for any odd construction orders, abandoned buildings suddenly having shops in them, that sort of thing. Every little bit of information helps.’

Ikuko huffed. “I’ll keep an eye out. But sooner or later, Luna, you’re going to have to tell me exactly what my daughter is fighting against.”

‘We’ll see.’

...

Azabu-Juuban shopping centre wasn’t far from Usagi’s school; a bustling assortment of clothing shops, food vendors and a lot of other places Usagi paid only vague attention to due to the amount of time she spent in the first two. Naru was waiting by the entrance, wearing jeans and a green top, glaring at a group of skateboarders who were rolling up and down the street and ramping off benches.

“Usagi, there you are!” she greeted in relief. “Come on, quick, let’s get inside before they start catcalling agai... uh... hello?”

Ami smiled shyly and essayed a half-hearted wave, already having second thoughts about letting Usagi drag her here. Naru bemusedly waved back, then turned to Usagi. “And this is...”

“Oh, right! Naru, this is Ami; she’s really smart and kind and helped me out a bunch with evil homework and fixed my laptop! Ami, this is Naru, she’s been my best friend practically since we were born and her mum runs a really neat jewellery store.” She eyed Naru. “How’s that going, by the way? I haven’t had a chance to drop in since, uh... you know.”

Naru eyed Ami sceptically, but allowed the change of topic as the three of them entered the mall. “It’s been... okay, I guess. Nothing much has changed – I think I told you about getting the insurance payout. Mum was still super-not-happy, even though we got it. Uh... oh, Sara got out of hospital a few days ago. She’ll be coming back to work soon, though I... I’m kind of not sure I want to see her again.” She made a face and shrugged. “If anything positive came from that... thing, at the concert, it’s that it gave Mum something new to grumble about.”

“Um... sorry, what’s this about?” Ami asked tentatively. “I hadn’t heard about... I mean, was it something like...”

“I’ll tell you later,” Usagi hastily assured her. “Anyway, right now is shopping time! Naru, do you know if there are sales on anywhere? Ami needs new clothes. Ami, where do you usually get your clothes from?”

“I... don’t know?” Ami fidgeted slightly. “My mother usually picks out my clothes for me.”

“I can see that,” mumbled Naru under her breath. She carried on in a louder voice, “Okay, but I want to stop by the bookstore first. I want to see if I can pick up the last two Prince of Tennis volumes.” She had to raise her voice again to make herself heard over a heavy lorry passing by.

Ami perked up. “That would be nice! I... uh...” She wilted again slightly at the attention from the other two. “I... wouldn’t mind going to the bookstore either. I’m almost out of reading material. Again.”

Usagi grumbled a bit, but allowed herself to be mollified by the promise of manga and dragged along. Conversation tailed off for a short time as the trio delved into the shelves in search of their preferred literature, before converging again at the checkout. 

“So,” Ami said as Naru paid. “Naru seems, um, nice. And this has been... nice, so far. What are you getting?” She looked at the small pile in Usagi’s arms. “Gatchaman... Lucky Star... Games Team Seventeen... Usagi, do you read anything other than manga?”

Usagi considered this for a moment. “Why would I want to?”

Ami looked mildly offended. “Because it’s enjoyable!” she protested, forgetting her shyness in front of Naru in the face of Usagi’s phobia of books without pictures. “Great works of literature can inspire, they can enthral... they tell us what it means to be human!”

“Huh. They mostly make me fall asleep.” Usagi eyed the rather larger pile of books in Ami’s arms. They looked, to her eye, like the kind of tome that was very thick, and full of words in very small font, and which was about complicated things like politics and talking a lot and subtle hints that the reader was expected to pick up on and decipher in order to understand what was going on.

Usagi found this sort of book rather unfair, and suspected that the kind of person that wrote something that was deliberately meant to confuse people reading it probably had too much time on their hands. And thought everyone else had time to try to understand it and keep notes and turn reading into extra homework.

“So...” she asked slowly. “Do you have any... other hobbies? Cause, uh, it’s really cool that you can understand that sort of thing, but I really don’t.” She grinned sheepishly. “Like... Naru likes jewellery – her mum runs a jewellery shop. You know about my job with Rei, and I’m a connoisseur of ice cream...”

“How do you even know that word?” Naru shot over her shoulder, obviously having overheard. “Was it in a cooking show? I bet it was in a cooking show.”

Usagi stuck her tongue out at the girl, and grinned triumphantly as Ami stifled a giggle. “So! What do you do other than read scary-huge books and learn everything in the world?”

Ami’s lips twitched again as she fought off another giggle at her new friend. “Um... not much, really. I don’t have many hobbies like that, I guess. Oh, does swimming count? I like to swim.”

Usagi narrowed her eyes in mock suspicion as Naru finished and she and Ami stepped up to the counter. “Oh, come on. What do you do when you get home from school?”

“I do my homework.”

This earned her two odd looks. “... what, like... _immediately?_ ” asked Naru. “Right away?”

“Yes. We do get quite a lot at Mugen. More than I got at my old school. And I like to keep on top of things.”

Silence reigned for a moment, until the cashier patiently cleared his throat and Usagi hastily gave him her books to ring up. Naru kept staring incredulously.

“It... leaves the rest of the evening free,” Ami defended. “And gets it out the way so it isn’t hanging over my head later.”

“Huh.” Naru grudgingly nodded, conceding that point. “Well, what do you do then?”

Ami hesitated briefly and gratefully took advantage of the cashier gesturing for her books to buy a bit more time to think. “I... read? Or... do things on the computer.”

“Aahh.” Usagi grinned knowingly. “Bit of a gamer, then?”

“No.”

“Final Fantasy? Zelda? Oh, have you at least played some of the Sailor V games?”

Ami gave her a nervous smile of embarrassment. “None of them, I’m afraid. I play a few games, but all on my computer. I don’t have any consoles. Honestly, the television hardly ever gets used at home. I do talk with people online, though. And play chess with them... although that counts as gaming, doesn’t it?”

“Chess?” For that to be the height of one’s gaming experiences was nearly unthinkable. “You mean... you’ve never...” Usagi blinked at her in horror. “Not even Sailor V? _Never?_ ”

A quick glance told Ami that Naru had her head in her hands, but that seemed more directed at Usagi’s theatrics than at her. Rather bemused, she turned back to Usagi and shook her head in confirmation. Usagi’s expression crumpled.

“I-it’s okay, Ami,” she said sympathetically. “We can fix this. We can make this better. You just need to hold on, and we’ll pull through. Come on, we’ll get you to a gaming store, and then we can make this okay. You and me and Naru. We’ll get through this.”

It transpired that ‘making it okay’ involved a long-winded high-speed babble of explanation about the titular superheroine as they made their way over to the game store. Ami silently marvelled at the fact that Usagi appeared to be immune to the need to breathe, and politely refrained from mentioning that she already knew most of the publicly available information on the masked vigilante.

Besides, there was a refreshing sort of novelty to hearing it from Usagi’s point of view.

“... and she must have started pretty young because she’s about our age and she first showed up like three years ago, but I guess she’s just really brave? Though who wouldn’t be in a costume that cool, I mean wow! And she fights crime and helps people instead of using her powers for evil - like there was that terrorist attack she helped the rescue people with, the one with the picture of her hauling rubble out of the way for the crews! She’s only been interviewed once or twice – my dad said that it would be a career-making thing to get an interview with her...”

Usagi tailed off for a second, her eyes lighting up with an idea. But it was only there for a moment before she shook it off and continued, “But both times she was really nice! Did you know she gets a cut of all the merchandising in her name? It’s meant to be, like, _tonnes_ of money. But she sends it all to charity efforts for people who get hurt by terrorists and stuff!”

“It would probably be difficult for her to collect it herself,” Naru pointed out. “You know, secret identity and all.”

Usagi blew a raspberry at her. “And yeah, she fights that terrorist group! Five or whoever they are... they’re evil or something and have something to do with the... recession? I dunno; I don’t really listen to that stuff. Oh oh oh and some people think she’s a pop star! Who do you think she could be? Maybe Mikan? No wait; she’d have been at the concert if she was. Hmm. Well, I bet she has a really hot boyfriend who waits on her hand and foot because it’s gotta be _hard_ saving the world like that, right?”

... well, the novelty was definitely there. Ami glanced at Usagi out of the corner of her eye, mentally compared her costume as Sailor Moon to that of Sailor V, and tried not to smile. She suddenly had a rather better idea of where some of Usagi’s ideas on being a superheroine had probably come from. Like the speeches.

Of course, she had based her own attire on what Usagi had been wearing, so that meant that Sailor V’s costume was Sailor Mercury’s costume’s grandmother. At least in a certain sense.

“And I’m _pretty_ sure she can shoot lasers? From her finger? She can in the game, but maybe that’s just a gameplay feature, like how she probably doesn’t have to hit the buttons at the right time in real life to make her spee- oh, huh. Hey, Naru, check it out.” Usagi pointed, and the other two followed her finger to where the skateboarders from outside were being led rather firmly by a couple of security guards into a staff-only door. The spiky-haired ringleader was meek and compliant with a meaty hand gripping his shoulder in ill temper, and followed where he was being led with no sign of a struggle.

“Guess they pissed someone off with their comments,” Usagi theorised. Naru’s smile was a vindictive thing of delight as they entered the store. But it was nothing compared to Usagi’s cry of glee as she scanned the titles on the shelf marked ‘Sale’ and dived for one on the bottom.

“Yes! Sailor V, right here! And it looks... cheap enough for me to get! Yes!”

Caught up in the lure of the half-price offer, she missed something fluttered off her handbag and fell to the ground. Ami picked it up and tapped her on the shoulder. “Uh, Usagi, you... dropped this?”

“Huh? Oh!” Straightening with a couple of new games in hand, Usagi took it back and held it up to the light; showing it to be an immaculately inked ofuda. “Phew. Thanks. Rei-senpai made it for me. Well, I say ‘made it for me’. It was more like ‘made me take it’. And promise to keep it on me. At knifepoint.”

Naru looked at her flatly.

“Well, broompoint. Well, broom... bristly bit. Because she was sending me to sweep the steps. Again. But yeah, it’s a protective charm. I think she’s getting really worried about the...” she stumbled for a moment, “... the weird stuff that’s going on lately. Like the concert, and the disappearances from the buses. I’ve seen her normal work on charms, and compared to them this is...”

She drifted off; staring at the slip of paper with a faraway expression, until Ami cleared her throat inquisitively and Naru prodded her. “Is what?”

“Huh? Oh, uh... it’s much better. She must have put a lot more effort into it.” Usagi grinned with the faintest tinge of a blush, her attempt to put on a mock-sulky expression failing pathetically. “I guess she doesn’t want to have to go to all the trouble of training a new slave to torture.”

She perked up again. “And speaking of accessories, we still need to do what we came here to do! Clothes!” She whirled around, her face alight with excitement at a new challenge. “Ami, I promise you; once we’re done with your makeover, you won’t even recognise yourself in the mirror!

“... right after I buy these games.”

...


	15. Falsely Accused! This isn’t a Fair Cop!

Ami Mizuno loved to learn. The thrill of drinking in new information, the warm glow that came from understanding the universe a little better, the satisfaction whenever the knowledge came in useful later on... she didn’t understand why so many people seemed to resent their lessons and teachers. If you didn’t learn new things, you’d be stupid – and Ami hated feeling stupid.

Even for someone who didn’t believe in useless knowledge, though, her current lesson was a bit... unusual. Before today, Ami had thought that shopping was a fairly simple affair. Decide what you want, work out where it was, go and buy it. Maybe browse around for a little while to see if you could spot anything that you hadn’t planned for, but which still looked interesting enough to get anyway.

Apparently, she had been wrong.

Usagi might not be the world’s greatest academic, but the girl seemed to know the layout of the shopping mall down to the last shelf, and she’d dragged Ami around almost all of it. The girl gossiped with makeup counter assistants, haggled at a handicrafts store for ten minutes and parted on good terms with the owner despite not buying a thing, and turned window shopping into something that was half art form, half competitive sport.

Ami was struggling to keep up by the end. Naru seemed to take it in stride.

Now, Ami waited for Usagi to emerge from the changing rooms in the fifth clothes shop they’d entered, and wondered if she was going to be told to try any more blouses on. It wasn’t that she couldn’t afford the clothes, and she had to agree that what she’d bought so far looked very nice on her.

She just wasn’t entirely sure that she would be able to get her new acquisitions home as it was. Any _more_ bags would make it outright impossible.

She eyed Naru carefully, wondering if the redhead would be willing to help carry some of them. Usagi was almost as heavily loaded as Ami herself, not that it slowed her down, but her friend was only carrying one bag.

On the other hand, Ami wasn’t totally sure that Naru liked her. She’d been mostly friendly, in a brisk, sarcastic sort of way, but some of her comments had seemed to have an edge that spoke of disapproval. Ami hoped not. Usagi was... nice, and if her best friend was hostile, it would make things awkward.

“Usagi!” the aforementioned best friend called towards the dressing rooms. “Are you ever coming out of there, or have you tied yourself up in a pair of tights again?”

“Wait, what?” blinked Ami. “She... what? _How?_ ”

“Usagi,” Naru returned, as if that answered everything. Which, to be fair, it sort of did. “Five more minutes, Usagi, then I’m coming in after you!”

“It was one time!” Usagi protested from behind one of the curtains. “And I’ll just be another minute; these buttons are fiddly!”

Ami was still stuck on how one could possibly manage to tie _themselves_ up with a pair of tights. She drew a breath to ask, but Naru beat her to the punch.

“How did you meet her, anyway?” she asked, sounding as though they were already halfway through a conversation. “Usagi, I mean. Where would she run into someone like you?” She paused, and a suspicious look crossed her face. “Wait, she didn’t literally run into you, did she?”

“No, no- well, yes,” Ami admitted, “but not very hard, and it was at the library. It was more like I walked into her… um. And dropped books on her head.” 

“Oh, so nothing serious then,” Naru said dismissively.

Ami wasn’t quite sure how to respond to that. She was a little under-experienced in the ‘friend’ field, but that wasn’t the sort of thing best friends were meant to say. Was it? “She was having trouble with some homework and I helped her out,” she continued. “And then a little later I called her when I felt, um, ill coming out of my cram school and she came to help.”

Naru rolled her eyes. “You go to a cram school,” she sighed. “I’m not even surprised. Probably voluntarily, too. Man, _how_ are you friends with Usagi? You literally couldn’t be any more different if you tried. You’d have to use a cattle prod to get her into a cram school.” She paused and considered. “Which her mum would probably do, actually.”

Ami fidgeted uncomfortably. It wasn’t the first time people had spoken about her like she was crazy for studying. Naru seemed more bewildered and incredulous than mocking, but it was always embarrassing, even when it wasn’t meant cruelly. “I just want to get into a good university,” she mumbled, ducking her head and staring at the floor as her cheeks burned. “Mugen is a good school, and I don’t want to miss out on the colleges it feeds into because my grades aren’t high enough.”

“Well said,” someone said from the other side of the shelf they were leaning against, and Ami jumped with a squeak of fright. It was a young man with dark hair and piercing eyes, carrying a collection of suit jackets draped over one arm and wearing a dark red polo-neck jumper. “Too many people slack off in senior school, but your last few years are critical. Though if you really want to improve your prospects, look at some of your potential universities and try to get an idea of who you might get as an advisor. Or even ask them what they look for in incoming students. You can’t over prepare.”

Ami nodded firmly, feeling somewhat more certain at the support from a – quite handsome – older man. “I’ve already done a little,” she said more confidently. “I’ve arranged to shadow someone at a hospital and I should be able to get work experience during the summer holidays next year which will look good on my application forms.”

Naru stared at her with an expression of mild horror.

“I interviewed for an internship with Professor Tomoe, too,” Ami continued, either oblivious or determinedly ignoring her. “As something to add to my transcript – Mugen is an excellent school, but it never hurts to go a little bit further, and the summary sounded fascinating.” She sighed. “I didn’t make the cut, though. Too young. He did say that I was an exceptional candidate and that maybe next year I’d get in, even though it would still technically be a year early.”

The man raised his eyebrows. “Even getting an interview two years early is impressive. You must be gifted. What are you thinking of studying?” He paused. “Wait, sorry, I’m being rude. I’m Mamoru Chiba.”

Ami took his hand as he moved around to their side of the shelf and shook it warmly, smiling at him. “Ami Mizuno. And I’m not sure – I’m considering medicine, though. My mother’s a doctor, and I’d like to help people.”

Mamoru grinned. “Excellent choice! I’m in my first year of pre-Med. It’s challenging, but it’s well worth it, and it means you can make a real difference in people’s lives.”

“Well, the problem is that I have…” Ami hesitated, tossing a guilty glance back towards the stalls where Usagi was still getting changed, “… a few extracurricular things that I can’t drop, and sometimes they come up at inconvenient times. And I know pre-Med involves a lot of work, so I wasn’t sure how able I’d be to devote enough time to it.”

“I’m guessing that these are the kind of extracurriculars that are necessary, not just important?” Mamoru waited for Ami’s nod before patting her on the shoulder. “Then you’ll probably be fine. I had an inconvenient hospital appointment earlier this week, and it looks like I’ll have more in future, but my professors have been really accommodating about extending deadlines and stuff as long as I let them know in advance and make up the work later. They’re there to help you learn, after all, they want you to succeed.”

Ami brought a hand up to her mouth, unsure of whether to be reassured or concerned. “Oh my,” she said, “is… is it serious? Oh, wait, no, I’m terribly sorry, that was rude of me. You don’t have to answer, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have…”

Mamoru chuckled, dismissing her self-admonishment with a wave. “Hopefully nothing serious,” he said. “I’m just having a-”

“ _Vile warmonger!_ ”

“… dammit Usagi,” sighed Naru without even turning to look at the interruption. “Every time, I swear. Well, at least I get entertained.” She leaned back on the shelf, considerably more interested in the developing confrontation than she had been in the conversation preceding it.

“Corruptor of the innocent!” Usagi yelled at the top of her lungs, advancing from the dressing rooms in a fetching skirt and jacket combination. “Rude stalkery… _jackass!_ ”

“You were doing pretty well until that last one,” Naru commented, unphased, as Ami glanced around nervously. Usagi shushed her with a glare and a flick of her hand before turning her ire back on Mamoru.

“Don’t think you can follow me around and turn my friends against me!” she growled, jabbing at him with a finger. “I will punish you if you try! In the name of… of women everywhere in their fight against crude horrible jerks like you!”

“Your skirt is on backwards,” he pointed out with remarkable composure for someone being harangued at full volume in the middle of a crowded department store.

“Liar!” she snapped reflexively, glancing down at it. “… wait. Damn. Shut up!”

Mamoru leaned to the side just enough to address Naru without taking his eyes off Usagi. “This happens a lot, I’m guessing?” he asked quietly, a smirk playing on his face. “You must be very patient to put up with her.”

Naru had a sudden and inexplicable coughing fit, but refrained from actually agreeing with him. At least out loud.

“You... you humongous jerklord!” Usagi spat at him. “Stop flirting with my friends!”

“No, no, carry on,” Naru encouraged, giggling. “This is hilarious. And you fill out that polo-neck really, really well.”

“ _Naru!_ ” Usagi howled in horror. “Ami, back me up here! You’re not betraying me for him, are you? You wouldn’t do that! Right?” She fixed Ami with a look that tried to be half pitiable vulnerability and half intimidating suspicion, and didn’t manage either very well.

“Um… I…” Ami stuttered, flushing further as she suddenly found herself the centre of attention in the scene she’d been trying to unobtrusively distance herself from. “I don’t… think we should be doing this here? We’re, uh. Disturbing the other customers.”

“Huh?” Usagi glanced around to find that they had, in fact, attracted an audience of rubberneckers and disapproving frowns with the volume of their argument. “Oh, right! Sorry everybody! We’ll leave!” She paused. “Uh, just after I get changed back into my clothes. Bye!”

…

“So, um. Is Usagi always like that? Around Mr Chiba, I mean.”

Naru snorted, tipping her chair back onto two legs as she leant backwards to check where Usagi was in the line. The food court was bustling – it was a pleasant weekend lunchtime, after all – but from what she could see through the crowds they had a while longer to wait.

“Those two,” Naru said with an eyeroll, “get along like a house on fire. You know; screams, flames, falling masonry – the works. I’m not sure they even know each other’s names; they just run into each other and bam, instant fight. She’s been bitching about him for months.” She sighed. “She’ll get over it eventually. He’s not the first guy she’s done this sort of slap-slap-yell thing with.”

Pausing for a moment, Naru cocked her head. “Of course,” she added, “the only other one was in fifth grade, back when we were both ten, and that took two years and him moving into a different high school to get over. So I should have entertainment for a good long while yet.” She grinned.

“You’ve known her a long time,” Ami observed quietly. Naru nodded.

“Since we started elementary school, yeah, so… going on ten years now? I probably know her better than anyone who isn’t her mum.”

Not as well as you think you do, Ami thought, but refrained from voicing the thought.

She looked around instead, shifting in the awkward silence. The food court was in the middle of the mall. It was an open square with a large glass roof built over it, raised up from the buildings around it to allow fresh air in while keeping rain off. Two large maple trees bloomed under it, and wooden benches filled the court; easily accessed from the food stalls and shops that opened onto it. During the winter it would probably be miserable in here – too cold, even if it wasn’t wet – but on a warm autumn afternoon like this one it was still fairly pleasant. There were even a few animals around; a couple of pigeons twittering at one another in one of the trees and a stray kitten trotting around and looking adorably bewildered.

… actually, Ami realised, that last one was in the same direction that Usagi was coming back from with two loaded trays of food. And from the way her friend was holding them, she probably couldn’t see her feet…

The next few seconds played out in Ami’s mind’s eye just before they happened with the dreadful inevitability of the unstoppable. The kitten, apparently identifying by instinct the kind of person prone to squealing over cute animals and dispensing food, rushed over to Usagi’s ankles. It wound itself through them, purring and looking up at her in a way that it had probably already learnt would get it fed. Usagi made a valiant effort to maintain her balance with the little furry thing snaring her feet, but with no visual on what was tripping her up and two heavy plates of food in her hands it was not to be. She made a desperate, heroic lunge that landed one tray on the table with a clatter, lost the second to the cruel and mean power of momentum and slammed face-first into the ground.

Ami opened her eyes from her instinctual cringe and blinked. She was holding the second tray in one hand, and had caught the drink carton that had gone flying from it in the other. Somehow, she’d caught them in a single, smooth motion. Reflexively.

She definitely couldn’t have done that a week ago.

A groan from floor level interrupted her reflection, and she hastily dumped the tray on the table. Analysing her new reactions could wait. For now.

…

“Owww…”

Usagi picked herself up from floor level, rubbing her head ruefully. Gravity! Her nemesis! Someday, she’d really need to find a way to purify the evil force as Sailor Moon, freeing innocently clumsy girls everywhere from its cruel and nefarious whims. Even now, sitting on the floor, she could feel it coiling beneath the ground, waiting for her to tip her chair back or lean a bit too far so it could-

“Mreow?”

… so… it could… what? Usagi looked down and found a little kitten staring back up at her. Ah. So this was what she’d tripped over. She’d thought she’d felt something brushing against her ankles. It was a little ginger calico, with a white belly and paws. One eye was a clear crystal blue – sort of like her own, actually – and the other was a murky blueish-green.

“Mraa!” it decided, and nuzzled against her bare shin.

Usagi froze, right in the middle of her brain forming the word ‘Kitty!’

She recognised this cat. Not by sight, but touching it – touching _her_ – Usagi could feel an echo of silver light in her body. She _remembered_.

She had been at the concert. A tiny thing; all skin and bones with matted fur and ribs almost visible through her patchy fur. She’d been small and inbred and sick, with birth defects threading through her frail little organs. Only a couple of months old and doomed to never even reach half a year. Moon had wept, and her light had swept the sickness and flaws from the kitten’s delicate frame, cleaned her fur and added desperately-needed weight around her ribs and stick-thin neck.

And now she was here. She was breathing easily and running around and getting under people’s feet. She seemed fairly well-fed, even if it had only been a week, and there was still a mote of silver power lingering in her, keeping her safe and healthy.

“Hello,” Usagi whispered reverently, brushing a finger over the kitten’s head and getting happy purring in response. “Hello, little kitty. Good girl, here you go,” she said, scooping the little creature up and putting her down on the bench. She looked up the human food-giver quizzically, rubbing the side of her head against Usagi's finger.

“’Sagi, don’t pet random animals,” Naru sighed without much hope. “You’ll get bitten. Again. Or someone will yell at you for trying to steal their pet. Again. Or you’ll manage to find the only one in the park with fleas. _Again_.”

“That dog was adorable and you know it,” Usagi shot back. “And I only got bitten once, and that was totally worth it.” She shuffled onto the bench, though she didn’t stop petting the kitten. The light inside her was odd. Brushing her hand casually against Naru’s as she reached for her drink, Usagi frowned. The silver light had left Naru. But it was still lingering in the kitten. Maybe she’d got a more concentrated dose of it, because of being smaller and sicker? But it didn’t feel like it was taking longer to dissipate. It felt like it was just… sitting there. Not _doing_ anything, but waiting to.

Not for the first time, Usagi really wished she understood more about the power she’d drawn on at the concert. She’d dug down deep; deeper than maybe she was meant to yet, and instead of her reserves running dry she’d found an ocean of power lying dormant. An ocean she couldn’t control and didn’t understand and hadn’t been able to stop or turn off once it had started flowing. And now it had done something to a kitten that she knew nothing about, and she wasn’t _completely_ sure that it hadn’t done something similar to any of the people in the audience. Naru was fine, but the younger, smaller children? The people she’d had to heal more? The grass and other little animals in the area?

Lost in thought and staring off into the middle distance, Usagi didn’t hear Naru attempting to get her attention. She did, however, notice when she ran out of the burger she was eating and bit down on her fingers in its place.

“Aagh!”

“Oh! Are you okay?” Ami asked, dropping her sandwich in sympathy.

“Fine, fine,” muttered Usagi, shaking her hand out. “Doesn’t hurt much. I was just thinking.”

“Thinking? Really?” Naru quipped. “Hold on, I’ll tell the papers.” She grinned as Usagi blew a raspberry at her.

“But your face must still be hurting after that fall,” Ami continued, unwilling to let the subject drop entirely. “Are you sure you don’t need to…”

“I’m fine, really,” Usagi reassured her. “Honest. It doesn’t hurt anymore. I’ve always bounced back quickly from falls and bumps, especially since I… uh…” she threw a quick glance at Naru, “hit my last growth spurt.” Sighing dramatically, she poked at her knees. “Stupid growth spurts. Mum says it’s why I’m so clumsy – my arms and legs are always changing lengths. Hopefully it’ll settle down soon and I’ll be able to cross a room without tripping.”

“Mreeow!” interjected the kitten, jumping onto Usagi’s leg and then hopping, with some difficulty and a bit of scrabbling, onto the table. “Mraa! Mrow! Rrrp!”

“Hey,” Naru snapped, hastily curling her arms round her lunch. “Keep it away from the food; you don’t know where it’s been. And feeding them burger buns and stuff is bad for them; they can’t digest it.”

“Fine,” sighed Usagi, blocking the kitten’s curious investigation of her meal with her hands and shifting to keep her palm in front of the twitching little nose when she tried to duck around it. “Hey, Ami? Does she seem… odd, to you?”

Ami cocked her head giving the kitten a once-over. “No. Why? Or how, I suppose?”

“Uh, just…” Usagi bit her lip. She couldn’t ask Ami to just scan the kitten with the Mercury computer with Naru there. Maybe she could just get Naru to take the trays away when they were finished and ask then? Or if Naru went to the loo, but she couldn’t really _make_ her do that, and…

“Mraaaa! Fffft!”

Usagi blinked in surprise as the kitten’s tail suddenly bottled out, her fur standing on end as she tried to make herself look as big as possible. Which… still wasn’t very big. She was staring intently at… Usagi turned to look… a pair of patrolling mall security guards coming their way, and hissing malevolently. As the men got closer, her ears went further back and her hisses got louder and fiercer, until she abruptly turned on her heel and bolted, jumping from the tabletop and stumbling only briefly before vanishing in the opposite direction.

“… on second thought,” Ami said, “yes, that did seem a bit odd. Maybe she’s had a bad experience with security before? Oh, uh… can we help you?”

The guards had stopped beside their table, looking down with matching frowns. “Yes, miss,” one of them said. “I’m afraid we’ve had reports of three girls matching your description shoplifting. I’m going to have to ask you to come with us.”

Cold dread washed through Usagi like a tidal wave. Her stomach flipped over, and she felt sick. This… this couldn’t be happening. Across the table, Naru was just as pale and wide-eyed, and beside her, Ami looked physically sick.

“Wh… what?” Naru said after a couple of seconds had passed and the universe hadn’t quietly kicked the guards out of sight behind a curtain in embarrassment over its obvious mistake. “Shop… we haven’t done anything like that!”

“We… we’ve got receipts,” Usagi put in. “We were just having…” she gestured at their lunch, unable to finish her sentence. Ami was sitting rigid and trembling, Usagi realised, and someone was breathing fast and shallow; loud enough to be heard, on the edge of panic.

Oh wait. That was her.

“Even so, miss. You’re all coming with us,” the man said. “If there’s been a mistake, we can clean it up in the office.” He leaned across the table to take her by the hand, and Usagi’s gut flipped again, her stomach clenching as she fought not to throw up.

… hold on.

That wasn’t nervousness.

Startled, her head snapped up to look the guard in the eye as his hand came down on her wrist, and the stench of iron and corruption hit her like a brick to the face. This wasn’t about shoplifting! These guards were being used by youma! She had to get away! She-

His hand clamped down on her, and Usagi screamed. Not from the touch, though it sent shivers of revulsion running through her. No, her scream came as the ofuda in her pocket _ignited_. Usagi felt it go up in a flash of spirit-fire, and a frankly scary amount of energy rushed through her to the point of contact.

She’d seen Rei purify things with her ofudas once or twice at the shrine. Usually they were little things; tiny little bad-luck spirits that were barely there at all. She’d slap a ward onto the person or object they were clinging to, there’d be a faint pop and crackle, and Usagi’s spiritual senses would just about make out a tiny something-or-other being expelled at speed.

 _This_ discharge ripped the man’s hand away from her hard enough that she heard his wrist snap, blasted him backwards into his partner and propelled them both away with enough force to send them crashing across the next table over.

Both the girls and the gathering crowd of onlookers gaped for a moment. The fallen man was literally smoking slightly. Then Usagi snapped out of the shock and grabbed Naru and Ami by the hands.

“Run,” she advised.

…

They ran.

More by luck than planning, the first set of doors they hit led into a clothes store. Usagi retained enough presence of mind to dart sideways into the racks as the guards burst in behind them, shouting for them to stop. Ducking low, she kept a tight grip on Ami’s hand, losing Naru’s to the narrow avenues between shelves. The guards kept coming, though – including the one with the flower-like char marks covering his uniform and a broken wrist. It was hanging at a sickening angle, but he didn’t seem to care. A few people – mostly staff – responded to the shouting and tried to stop them, but most just looked on in shock. The girls fled, shoving past people and overturning the occasional stand of clothes; losing the guards here and then being spotted there…

And then Ami tripped. Usagi skidded to a halt, but Naru kept running for a moment before noticing and looking back, hunched double behind a shelf full of men’s socks. An open aisle separated them; and Usagi made an abortive move to help Ami across it, only to be brought down by Ami yanking her back into the shelter of a rack of shirts with all her strength.

“There’s a guard,” she hissed, jerking a hand to their right. “Coming down the aisle toward us.”

From the expression on Naru’s face, she had seen him too. If they ran, he’d see them.

“Can you run?” Usagi whispered. Ami shook her head.

“I’m out of breath,” she said quietly. “I can’t run like you two can. I’d trip again.”

She looked over at Naru with something on her lips, but the redhead pre-empted her. Bursting to her feet, she threw herself into a sprint straight past the crouching girls towards the escalators. With a yell, the guard gave chase, turning away from Usagi and Ami and leaving them be.

“She-” began Ami, but Usagi cut her off by physically dragging her to her feet.

“She drew him off upstairs, yeah. Now come on, I think I saw a lift over there. We can transform inside. Hurry, I dunno where the other one is.”

“R-right.”

With Ami leaning heavily on Usagi for support, they hobbled to the lift doors, hammering the button until it arrived and piling in together.

“It’s a little… cramped,” Ami noted.

“Well… be careful then!” Usagi retorted, digging her broach out. “Ready? Moon Power, Make Up!”

“Mercury Power, Make Up!”

Blue-silver glory reflected endlessly in the double-mirrored walls of the lift’s interior as it jerked its way to the next floor up. Reflected, built and strained, until the doors shuddered open as the light faded, and with a tremendous shattering crash both mirrors exploded, showering tiny bits of glinting glass throughout the lift’s interior. Both Senshi screamed – unharmed by the flying glass, but startled – and stumbled out onto the store floor wreathed in cold yet dramatic mist.

It wasn’t very dignified. But it certainly attracted attention. Everyone nearby stopped and stared, including the two guards, holding a frightened-looking Naru between them. Moon didn’t even bother with a speech; she opened her hands and blasted them with a wave of white magic, dropping them on the spot. Their shadows twisted behind them in the light, writhing and screaming sibilantly before going still. The air tasted of ozone and rust for just a second, before the air currents dispersed the stench.

“… what?” Naru managed, sinking down onto the floor. “I… what?”

“I am Sailor Moon, and those men were being controlled by horrible mean spirits!” Moon informed her, hands on her hips. She raised her voice to carry to the rest of the room. “Something corrupted those security guys to try to arrest three poor innocent not-at-all-shoplifting girls! They were liars! Mercury, can you trace where they came from?”

“… what?” tried Naru again.

“Already on it,” Mercury replied, tapping away at her sleek tablet. “There’s a large siphon of life energy and a group of corrupted spirits in the security office.”

“Right.” Usagi turned to Naru again, who was staring at them both wide-eyed. “Don’t worry, we’re here to help,” she said cheerfully. “And you were very brave, drawing them away from your friends like that. They’re safe too, don’t worry. Okay, Mercury? Let’s go!”

The security office was near the entrance of the mall, with a counter facing onto the lobby and several rooms behind it where the CCTV camera feeds were displayed. By the time they were halfway there, Mercury had hacked into the systems and shut down the cameras throughout the building. A few moments more were all it took to bring up the inside of the office on her tablet’s screen. Coming to a stop at one of the upper entrances to the two-storey high lobby, Moon and Mercury huddled together to get a good look.

“… that’s quite a lot of guards,” Moon observed.

“Yes. But they’re taking orders from…” Mercury tapped the screen, “her.” She’d selected a petite Chinese woman who was definitely not part of the mall staff; dressed in a slinky black dress and wearing ornate jewellery of bronze and some kind of black crystal. “If we subdue her first…”

“Then the guards might snap out of it!” Moon nodded. “That’s a great idea! Even if they don’t, they’ll be put off. Okay. you fill the room with fog, then I’ll go in.”

“Right.”

“… um… excuse me?”

Both Senshi turned, and found a teenage girl trying to stand as far away as possible from them without actually moving away. It made for an interesting stance. She glanced back at a group of friends some way behind her, who urged her on. “Um, are you… are you Sailor Moon? Only, uh, I was at the concert a week ago and… you look a lot like… I mean…”

Moon and Mercury traded glances. Then Moon turned back to the girl, her face lighting up in a grin.

“I am Sailor Moon, yeah,” she agreed. “And I’d love to stop and chat, but we’ve got a bit of a monster problem. Can you try to get everyone out of the lobby while we go in and deal with it?”

The girl froze, wide-eyed. “Get… what, me? They… nobody would listen to me if I started…”

Moon’s hand landed on her shoulder, and she looked up into crystal-blue eyes that were, somehow, both gentle and deadly serious. “What’s your name?” the Senshi asked her softly.

“... Koharu.”

“Koharu. Right. Here’s what’s going to happen. We’re going to go in and deal with the monsters. It’ll be pretty obvious that a fight’s going on, so people will panic. What I need _you_ to do is stay calm, look like you know what you’re doing and tell everyone to get out of the lobby and avoid the security guards.” She smiled, seeming to shine, and the girl drank her in wide-eyed. “If you sound like you know what you’re doing, people will listen to you. I believe you can do this. Okay? Mercury can back you up if you need help, but I _know_ you can handle this yourself; you and your friends together.”

Mercury raised an eyebrow at that. But the little pep talk seemed to have worked. Koharu swelled with confidence, and gave a shaky nod. “I… I’ll try,” she promised, sounding star struck. Moon gave her a wide grin.

“Great. I’m counting on you, Koharu! Do your best!”

“Y-you too!”

Moon saluted her, and with Mercury following her lead, took a running leap off the first-floor balcony and landed with a crash on the lobby floor. Mercury came down behind her and raised her hands, already incanting.

“Mercury Aqua Mist!”

White fog rushed out and filled the office, before fading into a sparkle in the air and faint coils of mist. Moon moved in past her, vaulting the counter, already hearing Koharu and her friends start shouting for people to follow them.

“Malls are a place for people to have fun and relax on a weekend with their friends!” she called, letting her voice echo sourcelessly. “And security guards are there to stop shoplifters and keep us safe, not to arrest people for things they didn’t do! I won’t forgive you for using them for evil like this! In the name of the Moon, I’ll punish you!” She came through the door to the main office with her tiara off and ready to throw, one finger pointed dramatically at the woman languishing on a swivel chair in front of the static-filled screens. She seemed remarkably unconcerned about her sudden blindness.

Her reason why was revealed with her next words, as a quiet smile spread across her lips.

“I surrender.”

…


	16. A Shadowy Surrender? Who is this Villainess?

“I surrender.”

Sailor Moon blinked, hesitating. The office behind the lobby counter was longer than it was wide, with malfunctioning screens all along the wall to her right. Two tables set along the centre line of the room separated it into three open areas. About a dozen men were sitting around them, most of whom were looking for orders in the rough direction of the woman in the swivel chair.

Who was looking towards Sailor Moon.

For a second she almost panicked, but the woman wasn’t looking at her directly. She seemed to be able to sense their position better than her men – or maybe just deduce it from the fact that the room only had one door – but she was just addressing the mists in their general vicinity. Still, Moon didn’t go so far as to actually lower her tiara as she tried to think of what to do next. That... that was not what the evil youma lady was supposed to say. Surrendering was not something any of the others had ever done. Shriek at her about how she needed to die, yes. Surrender, no.

“Oh! I am sorry,” the woman added. “Men, stand down. Don’t attack our guests; do as they say.”

Moon opened her mouth and then closed it again, now utterly lost. This was _not_ going as expected. And while she wasn’t exactly _complaining_ about the evil youma cooperating peacefully, she also didn’t really trust the woman as far as she could throw her. Before transforming.

“The hell with that,” snarled one of the guards, eyes blindly flicking from side to side as he sniffed at the air. Moon was fairly sure the woman rolled her eyes. “When I find you, you’re going down!”

He slammed his chair back from the table and charged, which Moon almost appreciated. He might be a large angry youma-possessed guard trying to kill her, but at least that was a problem she knew how to deal with. And he was charging at a point about two feet to the left of her actual position, having lost track of exactly where the door was in the fog.

Sometimes she really loved Mercury.

“I ordered you to stop,” snapped the woman, though without much heat. She flinched from the sudden flare of white light illuminating the fog as Moon brought her hands around and blasted the man. His shadow shrieked as it was flensed, scattered like smoke on the breeze, and he fell like a broken-stringed marionette.

None of the other guards seemed any more inclined to listen to her than the downed man. If anything, his fate seemed only to make them angrier. Panting and snarling, the men sniffed at the air. Their neat uniforms seemed somehow wan and drained of colour. They hunched over like animals, hands twisted into claws.

Unfortunately, they seemed to have learnt from his example. The next-nearest man groped for the wall. Tendrils of iron leeched from his skin and snaked up the plaster into the air conditioning vent. With a shrieking whine, rust and metal overtook the vent and it began drawing in the enchanted fog. He sagged, exhausted and unable even to stand from the exertion... but in seconds, the sparkle in the air had dimmed. And more importantly, most of the guards had stopped looking around blindly and were staring straight at Sailor Moon.

“Uh,” she said nervously. “Hi?”

With a roar, they rushed her. Mercury dove for the door as Moon leapt to the side with a yelp, catching two in a burst of purifying light. Only one dropped. The other staggered, and his shadow cast by the white light warped and flowed like melted wax. It grew and bulged, becoming something monstrous, and a sickening clarity returned to his eyes as he seemed to realise what he was doing. He opened his mouth to say something, but before he could get a word out, the twisted thing inside his shadow was moving; squirming up his legs, wrapping dark tendrils around his limbs. He cried out and struggled, but the shadow was stronger, moving him like a puppet as it forced him to charge her again. 

She could read his lips, though. “Help me,” he mouthed, the blackness squirming over his tongue and throat silencing him.

Moon watched in horror for a second too long. She avoided the screaming shadow-possessed guard, but the rest were on her before she could dodge again. She kicked and fought as they slammed her to the ground; one kneeling on her back and another two holding down her legs. She knew she could have sent them flying if she’d thrown everything she had into it, but they were just people! People who wanted her to help them! She could really hurt them if she did that. No, she had to purify them and save them!

A scream and a thud marked another casualty to her glowing hands, but then something hard and cold pressed down across her wrists. A chair leg, from what she could see, with another guard kneeling on it. She was trapped. Now she tried harder, but something about their oily, shadowy touch was draining her strength – and they were stronger than any human should be!

“ _Mercury!_ ” she screamed desperately.

The drinking fountain on the far wall burst and a torrent of water rushed out, pouring onto the linoleum floor and freezing there. Streamers lashed out at the men still on their feet, knocking them to the ground. But it didn’t keep them there. Though ice grew around their arms and legs, they shattered it with furious snarls.

Moon couldn’t see the direction of the door, but she caught at least four men running towards it, and sounds of a desperate scuffle outside. She redoubled her struggles, but the men holding her down were too many and too heavy. She was strong enough to hop from roof to roof, but she had no leverage here, no wiggle room.

A scream from outside, and returning footsteps. They were grunting and cursing as Mercury fought. But they had her.

The woman just watched. She wasn’t indifferent anymore, though. There was a trace of something else in her expression. Disappointment, perhaps?

No.

Disdain.

“Well,” she sighed, stepping forward from her corner. “That was less than I’d expected.”

...

_“Less than I expected, Princess.”_

_She stood in a great oval amphitheatre; open to a black sky above her. The walls were living wood, silvery trees woven together and grown into shape. Pale dust stirred from the floor by her footsteps fell slowly to the ground. It was_

... amazing! Magical! She’d never seen anywhere like this before, it was almost...

_familiar, traditional and – at the moment – thoroughly unwelcome. She didn’t want to be here. She didn’t want to be doing this. She wanted to be elsewhere; under a blue sky and a golden sun. But her mother insisted – at length and with extravagant threats of punishment –and so, reluctantly, she was. Her arms ached as she lifted her sceptre higher, correcting her stance._

_What was even the point of knowing how to fight? It wasn’t like there was anything for her to fight_

... apart from horrible mean youma and things like that, surely...

_that couldn’t be dealt with easily enough. She didn’t even like this kind of thing!_

_It had felt light when she first lifted it, but now it was like lead. Her arms felt like they could fall off, after hours and hours of practice with no rest. It looked pretty – a little longer than her forearm, the material some pale pink hybrid of metal and ceramic, capped by a silver crescent moon at its head. Still, she’d seen her mother use her staff, and knew better than to think it powerless._

_Now if only she didn’t have to get so tired and sweaty practicing with it! This wasn’t what she wanted to spend her days doing – martial contests were better left to others! Others like..._

_A cry rang out from across the room, and her gaze swung around to follow it. A dark-skinned woman with a mane of tawny-gold hair was fighting; her crystal sword whirling and parrying as six armoured men sprang at her from different directions. She ducked a kick from behind her without looking, snapping out a hand and tripping the man as she caught the fist of another on her crossguard. Despite the keen edge, his knuckles didn’t bleed. She threw him backwards into the air with a shove, but he landed as light as a cat and shot forward again, moving faster than muscle and bone could account for._

_A dancer of the inner path! No, she_

... didn’t know what that meant, did she? It sounded familiar, but she couldn’t...

_realised. All of them were. And the armour only enhanced them further. The white and silver plate and intricately patterned greaves and vambraces made every movement faster, every blow stronger, every form a tiny prayer._

_Against this woman, it was not enough. But oh, was it a spectacle to watch. Her arms fell to her sides as she took in the sight – the rippling muscles and smooth, light-footed movements. They weren’t unhomely, any of them. But attractive as they were, they only made her think of another man; dark and noble and proud, who even now must be..._

_“Princess!”_

_The swordswoman spun in towards her, shadowless, even as the dancers continued to chase at a copy of her – a dancing image they could never quite touch. The crystal sword flickered out, twisting the sceptre out of her grasp, and the woman caught it._

_“Daydreaming about your prince?”_

_She gasped, waving wildly for the woman to keep her voice down. A chuckle was her only answer._

_“Stop fussing, Princess. I’ll keep your secret. But...”_

_She tossed the rod back, and brilliant blue eyes narrowed. “No more slacking off. You’re here to learn. So raise your wand and fight!”_

...

Sailor Moon’s eyes snapped open. Her hands gripped the sceptre automatically, _knowing_ it would be there just as it once had been. From across the gulf of centuries, the woman’s words blazed in her mind.

_“Raise your wand! And fight!”_

A cool, smooth surface was there to meet her fingers. A thrum of power came back from it. It felt warm and ancient and infinitely experienced. It felt like starlight and cool water and marble stone.

It felt like safety.

She shifted her grip, and the sceptre touched the man pinning her arms to the ground with a chair. The rush of silver power at the contact was only half from her, and the shock blasted him away. Arms free, she brought the rod up hard against whoever was kneeling on her back, then yanked her legs up and swung it blindly behind her.

Two screams, two thumps and a sharp gasp from the corner of the room. She was free.

Scrambling to her feet, Moon brought the rod up into a clumsy guard position, breathing hard. It... huh. She blinked. This wasn’t exactly the sceptre she remembered. It was still the same pale pink material, somewhere between metal and ceramic, and a glittering silver crescent-moon capped it, but there were two silver wings just below the head, curving up to frame it, and beautiful curving script ran down the sides of the shaft. It sort of...

“Moon-witch! Die!”

... okay, perhaps examining it could wait until later. There were... she counted quickly... eight guards left. One was still exhausted from clearing the fog, though she was glad to see that the screaming man puppeted by his own shadow had been one of the ones holding her down. Three of them were holding Mercury down on a patch of dry floor while another approached with a knife.

Well then. She’d start there. The busted water fountain was still pouring out onto the floor, but it was on the other side of the room. The pipes that fed it, on the other hand...

“Moon Tiara Action!” Moon snapped, aiming hastily. The guards instinctively ducked away from the lethal glowing disk, but it flew past them and rebounded off the wall, slicing the pipes cleanly. She still saw a faint wobble as it came back, and frowned. Her magic was working now, but her soul still wasn’t fully healed.

Of course the Sceptre didn’t seem to care what state her magic was in. It was sacred in and of itself. And now there was water spilling out all over the floor around Mercury, which meant...

“Thanks, Moon,” Mercury said from behind her, rising up from a puddle as the guards fell into one in her absence. Ice crackled all around her. “Where’d you get that?”

“Later,” Moon said tersely, eyeing the guards. “Can you blind them again? And hold them still.”

“Mercury Aqua Mist!”

Fog billowed out in lieu of a reply. Both Senshi moved as one, diving to either side, and ice encased the feet of the guards, immobilising them for a few seconds. It was more than enough. Moon drew back the sceptre, noticing the woman in charge scrambling to get out of the way in the corner of her eye. She ignored her. Mercury would intervene if she tried any backstabbing moves like the youma from the concert.

Taking one careful step back to get all eight guards in range, Sailor Moon gave free reign to the instincts bubbling up from the sceptre in her hands.

“Moon Healing Escalation!”

The rod almost pulled her hands along as she swung it in a wide circle, leaving a glowing silver line in the air behind it. As the circle closed, rays of white light burst from it, saturating half the room in a wide cone. The tainted shadows streamed out against the wall for a moment with shrill screams, and then they were gone.

As one, the guards hit the floor.

...

Slowly lowering the rod to her side – though she didn’t relax her grip on it for a second – Moon hurried forward to check over the unconscious men and women. Only when she was satisfied that they were all breathing and untainted did she turn around to face the sole remaining enemy.

The woman was... small, Moon realised with surprise. In fact, she was probably only a hair taller than Moon herself – Mercury certainly had a centimetre or two on her. She was Chinese, but her dress didn’t look it; a black and rust-red style that tickled some ancient memory in the back of Moon’s mind and was definitely not appropriate for someone working in a public shopping mall. Black tattoos ran in sinuous patterns down her bare arms and across the parts of her chest made visible by the neckline, clustering around the obsidian jewellery she wore. She was pretty, but cold; her long dark hair swept back from her face in a tight ponytail at the nape of her neck. Something about her face gave the impression that it had been soft and welcoming once, and that perhaps it could be still if not for its inhabitant’s inherent inner sharpness poking through.

Moon only stumbled for a heartbeat at her relatively non-threatening appearance. “ _You_ ,” she growled. “You sick, evil _monster!_ Malls are places to have fun! There are _kids_ here! These guards hadn’t done anything to you; they signed up to help people, not hurt them! You’re attacking innocent people for whatever horrible things you’re planning!”

“Moon...” Mercury said uncertainly, letting the mists fade away and summoning her visor. A rapid flicker of glyphs and diagrams moved across it.

“You’re even worse than the other youma!” Moon shouted at the woman, ignoring her. The target of her ire didn’t rise to it; leaning against the corner and studying both of them with faintly pursed lips and intent eyes. There was something about her posture which was tense under the outer layer of casualness. “You don’t even care about _them!_ You just sit there stealing someone’s body while they die for you!”

“Moon,” Mercury said more urgently, “she...”

“Did you really think I’d fall for you pretending to surrender?” Moon demanded. “The last time I turned my back on somewhat like you, she stabbed me in it! I’ve got my eye on you, youma, and as soon as you try something funny you’re getting a Moon Tiara Action up the-”

“Moon! She’s not a youma!”

“-left... wait, what?”

“She’s _not a youma_ ,” Mercury repeated, tapping her visor again and playing her fingers across her tablet. “I’m scanning her. She’s magical, and she’s saturated in youma energy, but... Moon, she’s human.” Mercury bit her lip, squinting at the numbers and letters flowing across her visor. For a moment she seemed about to say something more, but held herself back.

Halted in mid-rant, Sailor Moon stuttered for a moment. “But...” she began haltingly, “she was... the youma were... the youma were obeying her!” Rounding on the woman again, she flung her arm out to level the Sceptre at her accusingly. “Why are you helping them, if you’re human? Who are you, anyway?”

Internally, she took a rather vicious satisfaction in the way the woman flinched at the sudden movement. But she recovered her composure quickly. Walking back to the chair she’d been sat in when Moon and Mercury had first burst in – giving them both a wide berth as she did so – she sat back down, ignoring the sacred weapon that followed her every move.

“My surrender is genuine,” she said calmly, shaking her head to brush a stray lock of hair away from her eyes. “I made no move to attack you at any point. I even ordered the youma to stand down as soon as you entered, if you recall. They disobeyed, but, well... you have the feel of Senshi. They hate you deeply. I’m not surprised they didn’t listen.”

Moon blinked. “ _They_ hate _us?_ Like, us specifically? Why? We haven’t been fighting them that long.”

The woman raised an eyebrow. “Haven’t you? But I’m afraid that while I’ve surrendered, I’m not just going to tell you anything you want for free. So. A question for a question, perhaps? I am Hubnerite. And you are? Senshi, I presume?”

“Sailors Moon and Mercury,” Moon answered automatically. “How were you... why would – no, what did you...” She waved a hand absently, trying to pluck a specific question out of the mass of the hovering in the air.

Mercury cut over her, the ice-visor sliding down across her eyes. “You’re human,” she said bluntly, “But the youma are obeying you. Why?”

“I am a viscomtesse. They are lesser,” Hubnerite stated with a careless shrug. She didn’t explain any further. “You have powers. From where?”

“We inherited them,” Mercury shot back; quick, cool and clipped. “Why are _you_ working with _them_ , then?”

“We share a common motive,” came the bland reply. “How long ago did these inherited powers awaken?”

“Recently. How did you know of youma to ally with them?”

“Memories of the Fall.” Hubnerite smiled coldly for a moment, turning to face Mercury fully. “What do you remember of-”

“Wait, you remember our past lives?” Moon burst out. “Clearly?” Hubnerite’s attention snapped back to her like a viper.

“You do not?” she returned.

Mercury’s hand slapped over Moon’s mouth before she could get another word out, which was all the answer the viscomtesse needed. Silence fell. The smile that skittered across the woman’s lips was smug and satisfied.

“I think,” said Mercury after a brief pause, “that now would be a good time to call Luna.” She stared at the woman, bands of water coiling up from the floor to flow between her fingers.

The smug smile vanished. “Luna?” Hubnerite said, and for a split-second, she seemed off-balance. Almost... scared. “Luna of Itxlei? You...” She paused, and tilted her head. “You _trust_ her advice? Oh my. She hasn’t told you much, has she?”

Moon shook Mercury’s hand away and stepped forward. Her knuckles whitened around her sceptre. “Much of _what?_ What are you-”

“Moon!”

The blonde Senshi spun around in surprise at the sharp tone. Without taking her eyes off Hubnerite, Mercury beckoned her into the opposite corner. “I don’t trust her,” she murmured quietly, bending slightly to Moon’s level and bringing a hand up to hide her mouth. “She’s surrendered, but she doesn’t look worried. She’s answering us, but I think she’s learning more than we are. And now she’s dropping hints about Luna. She’s playing some game.”

Moon glanced across at the woman, who was looking at them with a half-amused, half-pitying expression.

“She was frightened,” she whispered back. “When you mentioned Luna. Of Itxlei, whatever that is. She hid it really well, but she was scared.”

“You saw that too?” Mercury asked. “Good. I wasn’t sure. Okay, that settles it. Ignore anything else she says. We take her to Luna and don’t trust anything that comes out of her mouth. We can ask about ‘Itxlei’ later, but I’m not going to trust a woman working with youma over our friend.”

She straightened and turned back towards Hubnerite. “She’s told us enough,” she said.

“So be quiet!” Moon ordered. “And come with us! Wait, no. Hang on.” She twirled the Sceptre thoughtfully. “Mercury, we should... handcuff her, or something. To stop her running away.”

“If you touch me with that thing, it will burn me,” Hubnerite said, flinching away again. Her voice cracked. “If not kill me outright.”

“Alright, then... Mercury! Freeze her hands in an ice cube or something! Or we could...”

“Perhaps I could be of assistance?”

All three occupants of the room spun around to the open door. A man was leaning casually against the frame, wearing a formal suit and top hat. A silver half-mask covered his face, and he held a cane tucked under one arm.

“Tuxedo Mask!” gasped Moon delightedly.

“ _You!_ ” Hubnerite spat. She shot to her feet, pointing at him, her composure torn. “ _You_ , of all people, stand with _them?_ Stand with a silver chain around your neck, at _heel?_ ”

A rose appeared between Tuxedo Mask’s fingers, but Hubnerite was already moving as it shot through the space where her shoulder had been. She came off the chair in a fluid leap for the shadowy corner of the room. Moon had been expecting something like this, and spun towards her with the Sceptre, swinging it out in an arc that caught Hubnerite a glancing blow to the ankle. The flesh charred from the blow; turning black and oily under the sacred weapon’s touch, but it didn’t stop her. Hubnerite hit the pool of shadows with her arms outstretched in front of her and was gone; Tuxedo Mask’s cane punching through the plaster a fraction of a second too late.

Mercury fumbled to scan the area as Moon pulled up in a guarded stance. “Where did she go?” she demanded; blonde hair whipping as she glanced around.

“Into shadow.” Tuxedo Mask replied softly. “Which is an ominous sign.” He retracted his cane with a flick of a wrist. “I will pursue her. Be on your guard, Sailor Moon, Sailor Mercury. She will be back.”

Mercury blinked. “Wait,” she said. “How do you know who I am?”

“What did she mean about a silver chain?” Moon said, simultaneously. “Did she know you?” They glanced at each other, then back to the masked figure in the doorway.

Who wasn’t there anymore.

“... he ran out on me!” Moon sputtered, after a second of shocked silence. “Again! And I had questions this time! Important ones!” She threw her hands up, putting a small dent into the ravaged wall behind her with the Sceptre. “ _Men!_ ”

Mercury pursed her lips. “Unhelpful as he was, he was right about one thing,” she said, letting out a breath. “We’ll probably see her again. And I think she got...” She tailed off, hesitant all of a sudden as the adrenaline of the encounter started to wear off. “Um, actually, maybe we shouldn’t talk about this here. She might still be listening somehow. Let’s find... find a place to turn back, and then go back to... what we were doing before.”

Moon’s eyes widened in understanding. “Ah! Right. Right, yeah, we should... go do that. Come on, I think I know a place we can change back without anyone seeing.”

...

Naru was no longer in the store where they’d left her.

Usagi insisted on checking again, dragging Ami round all three floors just to be certain. Maybe the guards had dragged her off somewhere and then left her when their boss had called them back, she worried. Or maybe she’d collapsed under a rack of coats! Or maybe... something else had happened! Something even worse!

There was quite a lot of very excited gossip as they canvassed the place for their friend, most of it already being wildly distorted from the actual events.

There was a decided lack of Naru.

“Uh,” said Usagi. “Crap.”

“She probably just found somewhere to hide after the youma attacked her,” Ami suggested. “Or went home, even. I’d probably want to go home, after something like that.”

Usagi shook her head. “This isn’t the first time Naru’s been attacked by a youma,” she said, low and worried. “And the first time was worse than this. She was having nightmares afterwards.” She bit her lip. “And she usually tries to look out for me, ‘cause, you know, I’m sort of clumsy. I don’t think she’d go home before making sure we were okay, but she must have been terrified...” She shut her eyes and rapped on her forehead. “Urgh, think think think. Where would she go if she was panicking?”

They considered this for a while.

“... I think that’s the wrong question,” Ami said eventually. “She doesn’t... know where we are, right? We got separated. So she’ll probably be trying to find where _you’d_ go. If we hadn’t gone where we did,” she asked carefully, “and security had just chased us in here and nearly grabbed us, and she’d drawn them off like she did... you wouldn’t want them to come back and find you if they caught her, so you wouldn’t stay here. Where would you head instead? Where would she think you’d go, knowing you like she does?”

They considered this for about a second, before turning to each other in unison.

“Back to the food court!”

They found her on a bench under the main skylight of the court, slumped over the table and breathing slowly. Her face was pale, and she was sweating despite the mall’s air conditioning. When Usagi put a hand to her forehead, her skin was clammy and cold.

“Naru?” she asked. “Hey, Naru? Are you okay?”

“Mmm?” The redhead groaned a quiet protest and looked up with bloodshot eyes. “Oh, ‘sagi,” she mumbled. “No.” Her head fell back into the cradle of her arms, and she drew her thin jacket closer around herself.

A second or two passed. Then her head shot up again. “Usagi!” she yelled, springing off the bench and grabbing her friend. “Oh god, are you okay? Did they get you too?” Giving Usagi a rapid once-over, she slumped in relief at her generally healthy appearance.

“‘Too’?” Ami put in? “Then... they caught up with you?”

Naru nodded tiredly. “Monsters, though,” she said, falling back onto the bench. “Like I thought. Like the one at the concert. Sailor Moon showed up and dealt with them – and another one; Mercury or something. Then they ran off somewhere.” She shivered. “Not that I’m complaining about the rescue, but I still feel like I’m gonna be sick. Or I’ve got a fever. Or both.”

The two girls who definitely weren’t Sailors Moon and Mercury shared guilty glances.

Another shiver drew their attention back to Naru. “And these monsters felt _cold_ and _slimy_ ,” she went on, talking more to herself than to them. “Worse than at the concert. Worse than...” she glanced at Usagi, then more uncertainly at Ami. “Worse than... at the store, even. Like...”

“We’ll walk you home,” Ami offered, laying a hand that only shook a little bit on Naru’s shoulder, then snatching it away hurriedly when the girl twitched.

Usagi was not so shy, and had an arm around Naru’s waist before she could protest. “She’s... oof! She’s right,” she croaked, heaving her upright off the bench. “Man, what the heck have you been eating, Naru? You weigh a t- ow!”

Naru glared at her out of the corner of her eye and ground her heel into Usagi’s toe for another second or so to drive the point home. “Thanks,” she muttered sullenly. Her face softened a bit as she glanced at Ami, though. “And... thanks.”

Ami ducked her head, blushing a little, but a thoughtful look overtook the shyness as they headed out of the mall; Naru leaning a little on Usagi’s shoulder. The warm sunlight seemed almost unreal after what she’d just been through. “You said ‘like you thought’,” she ventured as they turned onto the street. “Do you mean you knew they were monsters before Sailor Moon showed up?”

Naru half-shrugged. “Kind of? They felt slimy. Cold. Wrong.”

“Oh!” Usagi gasped. “Maybe it’s because you already got attacked by one! Like... like it’s a scar that aches when it’s cold, only for evil magic monsters instead of... uh, cold.”

Naru and Ami stared at her.

“What? It could happen!”

“Or, you know, I could just’ve been panicking ‘cause they were coming after us when we’d done nothing wrong and were pretty obviously shady,” Naru pointed out. “I dunno. Look, can we not talk about it? I’d rather just sort of forget about it all. Seems I can’t go anywhere without... without one of those things showing up.”

Usagi flushed with a murmured apology. They walked in silence until they reached a bus stop. Naru was out of breath from even that short distance and there was no way she could make it home on her own. She dozed off against Usagi’s shoulder on the bus ride, but woke up just before they got to the apartment perched above the jewellery store.

“I can get some food or something...” Usagi offered, but Naru cut her off with a feeble wave.

“Don’t bother,” she said, some of her usual strength returning to her voice. “I’m just going to go straight upstairs, hit my bed and slump. Today was...” Her mouth twisted. “Well, it was pretty fun, up until the whole evil monster security guard thing.” She glanced at Ami. “And you very nearly kept up with her, which was better than I’d’ve expected. I guess you’re okay. Maybe we can do this again sometime.”

“Sometime we’re more confident there won’t be monsters?” Ami offered. Naru cracked a grin.

“Yeah, I’d appreciate that.”

They left, and Naru leaned against the doorframe, watching them go. As soon as they were out of sight, she sagged.

“Okay...” she muttered, and waited until a customer left the shop to slip inside. The well-lit, clean-smelling familiar environments didn’t make her feel any better. Instead, she felt a deep and lurking unease that churned in her stomach. Something in the area felt horribly, dreadfully wrong. Carefully avoiding her mother – who was thankfully busy with a customer – she made a beeline for the stairs and sighed in relief when she got there without being spotted.

Exhausted, she barely made the effort to change out of her rumpled clothes before sprawling over the bed. She was asleep within seconds. Deep in blessedly dreamless slumber, she didn’t stir as the afternoon drew into evening, nor when rattling sounds from downstairs announced her mother shutting up shop in the jewellery store.

The last rays of dim sunlight were playing through the window as the bed beneath her seemed to ripple. Slowly, something trickled from the shadow cast by her body against the covers and the far wall, pooling under the window like a puddle of ink. It formed the outline, for a moment, of another woman, standing as though illuminated from the door in a direction opposite to the actual light of the sun.

Then it darted through the window like a black-fletched arrow, and was gone.

...

A silver of the moon was visible through the bedroom’s open curtains. Ami stared at the screen of Usagi’s laptop, searching for something – anything – about the events of the day on the news.

“... but she seemed like she recognised him or something. She yelled at him about wearing a silver chain around his neck and then jumped into a shadow before we could grab her and vanished!” Usagi huffed in annoyance and threw herself back against her bed’s headboard, making it creak alarmingly. “I got her with the sceptre thing... hmm. It needs a name. Ah, ‘Moon Rod’! I got her ankle with it, but it didn’t stop her getting away. And then Tuxedo Mask disappeared as well! Without giving us any answers! He just said she’d ‘gone into shadow’, whatever that means, and that she’d be back and he’d try to follow her. He didn’t even offer to take us along! Which, I mean, I’d have had to say no because of Naru, but he could have _offered_ to teach us how to try and follow her too. Then we’d have thrice as good a chance of finding her! How are we meant to work as a team if he keeps running off and doing things like a loner?”

“I’m worried,” Ami admitted from the desk chair as Luna paced up and down the bed, quietly translating Usagi’s shotgun-blast retelling of the afternoon’s events into a coherent story. “Looking back, I think she got a lot more out of that conversation than we did. I was trying to give away as little as possible without putting her off by lying, and I’m confident my scans would have picked up on any untruths from _her_ , but... what did we learn? Her name, that she’s reincarnated from that time as well, and that she’s some sort of youma nobility somehow.”

Luna’s tail twitched irritably. ‘I don’t like that... that people of that ilk are reincarnating. And reincarnated before you, given you said she looked older.’

“Yes.” Ami sighed. “Whereas... given that it was her first question, I don’t think she was sure that we were Senshi. So she knows who she’s fighting, she knows we’re inexperienced and new at this, and she knows that we don’t remember much of our past lives.”

Usagi winced.

“That comment to Tuxedo Mask, too,” Ami continued in a more thoughtful tone. “She recognised him, even though Luna says she doesn’t. And he recognised me. As Mercury, I mean; my powers and my magic. That means he’s probably from back then, as well.” She tilted her head and looked at Luna piercingly. Her blue eyes glinted in the light from the computer screen. “And she recognised _your_ name. I’m starting to feel like we’re the only people who don’t know what’s going on here.”

“That’s right!” Usagi slapped a hand down on one of her pillows. “She was scared of you, Luna! No, not just scared. She was _terrified_. More scared than she ever looked of Ami’s ice or my tiara or even the Moon Rod. And she called you ‘Luna of Itxlei’! How come one of the bad guys knows more about you than we do?”

‘Enough, enough,’ Luna said, backing away from the twin barrage of questions and sitting down at the far end of the bed. ‘Let me think for a moment. I know you have questions for me, but can we focus on the woman working with youma first? You said she leapt into a shadow and vanished. How? What did it look like?’

Usagi blinked. “Is... is that important?”

‘It could be,’ Luna said. ‘There are several ways she might have done it, but I can’t narrow it down without more detail.’

“She sort of blurred,” Ami offered. “She jumped into the shadowy corner – there was a cabinet between it and the ceiling light – and her form sort of blurred, the colour darkened to black, and then she was gone. It was fast – very fast; Mask’s cane hit the wall an instant later. Moon caught her ankle with the rod as she jumped, it went... I didn’t get a good look, because it was only for an instant and she was moving, but it looked far worse than any bruise. Almost like her flesh had turned to tar.” She threw a nervous look at Usagi, who was looking a bit pale herself.

Luna hissed. ‘As I feared. What you faced was, in all likelihood, a walking shadow. That means we’re up against a powerful shadow-caster. There were few who could send their shadows to walk in their place, back in the days of old. Most never reached such skill, though...’ She trailed off, worry moving over her features as she stared hard at the bedspread.

“... wait,” Ami said after it became clear she wasn’t going to explain any more. “Shadow caster? Walking Shadow? Does this have something to do with the souls?”

Luna jerked a little, startled back out of whatever thought train she’d been absorbed in. ‘Ah? Oh, yes. Yes, there were magics associated with each soul – are, I should say, though most are long-lost nowadays. Two branches of magic for each soul; an inner and an outer path. One to move the souls within, and the other to touch the souls of others. A shadow-mage of the inner path – a skilled one, at the highest levels of the art – could cut their shadow away from them and send it to act in their stead. It would be their perfect duplicate; you could only tell it apart from the woman herself by the lack of the other souls. No doubt it has returned to her with a full report – and she herself never needed to set foot in danger, you see? It would be difficult to destroy a walking shadow without knowledge of what it was, though not impossible.’ She sighed. ‘A risky gambit, but one that seems to have paid off for her.’

“And Itxlei? The silver chain? Tuxedo Mask?” Usagi leaned forward eagerly. “Was Itxlei what the Moon used to be called? Is that why she said you were from there?”

Luna coughed something that was almost a laugh. ‘ _From_ there? Where do you... no, child. She said _of_ , I think you said. Which is true enough. While you persist in thinking of me as...’ she closed her eyes in pain, ‘a “psychic cat”, I am neither. Itxlei was a, hmm. A father of sorts, I suppose.’ She took in Usagi’s blank look and rolled her eyes. ‘I look like a cat, but I’m not one,’ she simplified. ‘I’m a spirit, sworn to the House of the Moon. There are others.’

“‘Are’?” Ami interrupted sharply. She leaned forwards. “Not ‘were’, but ‘are’? They still exist?”

Luna hesitated. ‘... yes,’ she said carefully. ‘Many of them. But I am... reluctant to bring you into contact with them. Yet, that is,’ she added quickly. ‘I will in time. But, how to put this in your culture’s terms... not all of the kami in the Celestial Bureaucracy have honoured their oaths and their duties as I have done. I hold a position of authority, but there is only so much I can do.’

Silence greeted this for a while. Then...

“So _that’s_ where you go when you disappear for days at a time!” Usagi shouted triumphantly. “Hah! I knew there was something you weren’t telling me!”

Luna stared. ‘ _That_ is what you take away from this?’

Usagi shrugged. “It was bugging me. So you’ve been, what, yelling at spirits who aren’t doing their jobs properly and trying to get them to come help us?”

‘Something like that.’ Shaking her head, the self-proclaimed spirit stood and went back to pacing up and down the bed. ‘As to Tuxedo Mask, it’s impossible to say. We don’t know who this Hubnerite is, let alone who she might recognise. That might not even be her name – merely a title. At a guess... there were those who resented Queen Serenity and those who stood with her. Such foes of the Silver Empire led to its fall.’

Ami’s eyes narrowed, but she said nothing as Luna continued. ‘Presumably, she was among their number – and perhaps thought to count Tuxedo Mask as her ally, rather than yours.’ She hissed again, low and angry. ‘This speculation is pointless, though. I must redouble my search for the Mars. Neither of your powers can easily bind – Moon can purify and Mercury can analyse, but you are not suited for holding youma and their ilk for questioning without killing them.’

She looked at them gravely. ‘Be careful, both of you. Our enemies are starting to move against us directly. That means the danger has just increased. And Usagi?’

“Uh huh?”

Another hesitation. Luna’s mouth opened several times to start, but she cut herself off each time, her tail lashing agitatedly. ‘Well done,’ she eventually settled for. ‘On summoning the...’ she winced, ‘Moon Rod, and defeating them so well. Well done both of you, in fact, for your actions in general. Perhaps trusting her surrender was a mistake – it is not what I would have done – but... it speaks well of you. Well done.’

...

The dark hall rang with silence. The walls and ceiling were invisible through the gloom, but the suggestion of vast expanses hung in the shadows, unseen but audible in the echoing emptiness.

The Duc of the Pacific Plate lounged on his throne, mailed fingers tapping impatiently against the inky stone of the armrest.

“Crude,” he said with quiet venom. “Blatant. Obvious. I set you to this task, Vicomtesse, because I believed you to be subtle. And yet your scheme was simply to drag people from a crowded centre with no attempt at concealment and drain them until our enemy showed themselves.” The fingers came down again; four quiet clinks in the yawning gulf of the room. “Her Majesty was not pleased. We cannot afford to be noticed by our enemies at this stage. Your blatancy goes far beyond the boundaries we were set. Do you have anything to show for your efforts?”

Hubnerite eyed him warily. Murderous intent rolled off Jadeite in waves; every line of his body a study in aggression covered by a thin layer of dismissive superiority.

Underneath that, though... the hall was dark, with no light source strong enough to cast a proper shadow, but Hubnerite made a habit of always being prepared. Dropping her head in apparent humility, she turned her wrist and let her eyes lose focus, looking past the blurry reflection of the man in her polished brass bracelets into the soul below it.

She found pain. A lot of pain, in fact; contained and vented with frightening will. Beneath the sneer, beneath the rage, Jadeite’s every movement must be sending pangs of agony through him.

“Her majesty has a sharp tongue,” she murmured experimentally, glancing upward. A muscle in Jadeite’s jaw ticked, and she continued hurriedly. “Happily, I have news that should blunt its edge. I have discovered who we face and already identified two key weaknesses we can exploit.”

This did not appear to improve Jadeite’s mood. _Clink clink clink_ , went the mailed fingers on the armrest of his throne.

“Ask me,” the Dark General drawled, “how interested I am in listening to you prevaricate about your meagre successes, Vicomtesse.”

Hubnerite didn’t ask. If Jadeite had been punished by the Queen for her actions, no doubt he was looking for any excuse to pay the pain forward, and his orders would support him. The favours she was owed and the bargains she had struck would be nothing in the face of Beryl’s wrath. Her life hung on offering something valuable to make up for her transgression.

“It is, I am afraid, the Senshi,” she said. “It appears we are not the only ones to have been reincarnated. The Mercury and a scion of the House of the Moon – the Princess, I suspect. She summoned the royal sceptre, and they have contact with Luna of Itxlei, and presumably the Bureau.” She sped up, knowing she had seconds at best before an explosion that might very well kill her; successes be damned. Duc Jadeite was by far the most temperamental of the Four Generals.

“But they are woefully inexperienced and naïve. The Mercury let slip that they are in contact with the Luna in front of me, and the Princess revealed that their memories of their past lives are incomplete – perhaps even in tatters. My vassals would have defeated them – a mere dozen youma – had the Princess not summoned the sceptre, and she showed no signs of knowing what she held.”

Jadeite snarled, and Hubnerite flinched. Only the knowledge that it would be futile stopped her from trying to escape through her shadow. Instead she waited; heart hammering, to see what he would do.

She was in luck. An aborted motion to strike the armrest, and Jadeite calmed himself. “Is that all?” he growled.

“They are naïve,” she offered, voice turning clinical. “I offered surrender and they accepted it without a second thought, despite being unprepared for a prisoner. They made no attempt to bind me, and let me talk freely, accepting my offer of an exchange of questions. Their chain of command is non-existent; the Mercury followed the Moon girl’s lead at first, then had to step in and rescue her when,” she sneered, “her intellect proved lacking in the face of basic information-gathering.”

“It may well be the Princess, then,” Jadeite said darkly, jaw muscles rippling in contempt.

“There was no sign or mention of the other Senshi,” Hubnerite continued, unsure whether to take the man’s expression as a positive sign for her, “and as they fell back on planning to ask the Luna for help as soon as they gave away more than they intended, I must conclude they are the only ones; ill-trained and with poor communication. And they are sentimental beyond belief. They dared not attack with intent to kill once they realised I was human.”

She hesitated. To tell Jadeite about the man? She needed all the credit she could get, but... no, she decided. No, if she told him all that she suspected, she didn’t know what he would do, but she suspected it wouldn’t end with her among the living. “They have an ally – the man from Chevalier Derella’s mission,” she finished. “A reincarnated soldier, perhaps; I saw him only for a second before escaping. But they showed no more coordination with him than with each other.

“In short, Duc, if you allow me a little more time to discover their identities, a single elite taskforce led by a noble could eliminate them in one night.”

Jadeite’s jaw clenched. “False surrender and fickle words,” he spat under his breath, almost too low for Hubnerite to catch. The words were tinged with loathing. His fingers tapped against the shadowy stone of his throne for a moment longer as he considered

After an agonisingly long wait of what was probably no more than ten seconds, he flicked his fingers at her. “I will lead the attack,” he declared. “Get me their identities and locations within a month, or I will be forced to re-evaluate your usefulness.”

Hubnerite almost took the implied cue to leave, but she had one more card to play. Withheld answers were all very well and good when she was withholding them, but not when she was the one lacking information.

“There was one other matter,” she said. Shortly before the arrival of the Senshi, two of the hostages escaped on their own. One of them had an ofuda on her bag which dispelled my control over one of the guards. I looked into the source – it comes from a shrine maiden whose temple is nearby.”

Jadeite raised an eyebrow. “And?”

Hubnerite rubbed her arm. “The ward was too powerful for a mortal, especially one in this day and age. Upon observation and some digging, I am reasonably certain she is kami-born, descended recently from either Coquelicot, Tenné or Carmine. If we can seize her and expose her to Metaria’s power...”

For the first time in the conversation, Jadeite straightened in his chair. The half-lidded look of boredom vanished, replaced with alert focus. “An earthbound child of a Martian spirit, bent to our cause... you mean to pit her against them.”

The shadow-caster shrugged. “It had occurred to me that if done skilfully, her own power might protect her from the Moon child’s purification.”

 _Cli-cli-cli-clink_. The leisurely beat of Jadeite’s fingers sped up into a quick rhythm as he pondered the idea. He nodded slowly. “It could work. Hmm. Though it would not be the lady Carmine. She was there on the mountain, one of the Lady Mars’ attendants. I saw her split from crown to hip by Duc Nephrite’s blade.”

Hubnerite’s smirk was vindictive and satisfied. “Good,” she spat. “I _detested_ her. Coquelicot or Tenné, then. She was... part of the secretariat of the mountains, wasn’t she? And Tenné... I think he had something to do with the temple-industries.” She pursed her lips. “Either could be helpful. Shall I move in on her?”

Sourceless light glinted off the blood-red highlights in ancient, lacquered black armour as Jadeite stood. “No,” he said. “You will continue the search for their identities in the shadows, while they are distracted and panicked from rout.”

The throne melted away behind him as the Duc of the Pacific Plate drew his sword.

“It is well-past time I took a hand in this myself.”

...

Hubnerite wasted no time in making herself scarce. Jadeite might be in better humour now that he had a plan of attack to focus his efforts on, but she wasn’t going to be the one to test his patience with her. She left the great hall as fast as was possible without causing offence, making for the highest layer of the city in as close to a straight line as she could manage. Only when she stepped out of the palace doors and saw the scarred and mottled sky did she relax her guard.

Fractionally.

Sun and sky, but she hated this place. This filthy, fetid pit of monsters. Colour was sparse here; the air was thick and still, rank from its passage through uncounted lungs without refreshment. Her footsteps on the worn streets faded in and out erratically, sounding half a second too late as if someone walked a step behind her. And everywhere was the stench of iron; burnt metal and rotting blood wafting out from the very stone.

Fourteen millennia of imprisonment and abandonment had done no more kindness to the Dark Kingdom than it had to her once-home. But she had committed herself, and so here, for now, lay her residence.

The palace behind her was grand - one of the grandest in the Kingdom - but like everything else in this place the signs of decay marked it in subtle ways. Stone that had once shone gleaming white was reduced to a pallid pale grey; weathered and stained by time. Emblems, statues and artwork had been defaced and torn down. In places they had been replaced with the iconography of long-ago Terra, but there was no beauty left in the once-elegant shapes. Keeping them up at all was a constant battle. The oldest markers always came back, growing from the ancient memory of this place. A reflection of what it once had been.

The palace was also nowhere near big enough to contain even one of the spaces nominally within it, but that was to be expected. Space didn’t function here as it did in the outer world. Hubnerite sniffed derisively and turned her feet towards the edge of the city, ignoring the youma around her with business in the city. These ones, at least, retained some measure of rationality. None who had degraded to the level of savage beasts were allowed on the Queen’s own land.

It was almost funny, she mused, in a sick sort of way. Three homes that she could lay claim to; and yet none of them were fit for civilised habitation. This place; youma-ridden and crumbling. Earth; barbaric and primitive. And her birthplace...

... well, the less said about that the better.

The walk didn’t take long. Her viscounty was a small one. Up here in the city, it took the form of half a dozen graceful, fluted towers, connected to one another by delicate bridges on several different levels. The once-gossamer arches had long since been stained an ugly black, and several now sagged alarmingly. Scars covered the delicate edifice of the towers where hated symbols had been rent from the walls, and rust-red banners covered the worst of them. A low hum of activity surrounded one of the towers, where a brass flame symbol was being erected on a freshly ruined surface.

Hubnerite turned her face away from the workers as she came within earshot, wincing at the hoarse work-songs they sung. They always grated on her ears after time spent on Earth. This place even leached the beauty out of music. Leaving them to it, Hubnerite headed to the main door. Ignoring the guards who went down to one knee as they saw her, she stepped through - not into the interior of the tower, but to the pocket of folded space that had replaced it.

The viscounty of Hubnerite.

It wasn’t that large a space. Perhaps a large neighbourhood, suspended a shadow’s width under the city-layer and twisted to fit into the towers she had been granted. Here, the streets were far more crowded with youma, attending to tasks for their lieges or spending hard-earned time off as close to the city as they were allowed. There were buildings, and in many of them were further, deeper pocket-domains; owned by the minor nobles who owed Hubnerite their allegiance, with their own underlings living on the land she had bequeathed them.

Not that it was comfortable land, of course. In the city above, as long as one didn’t look at the jagged lines of gnarled and twisted space that criss-crossed the sky like ropy scar tissue, one could almost believe they were in a Terran city. Here; two layers removed from reality, a dank hollowness chilled the air and seemed to suck at the soul. The vital energy of life was thin in the air; the meagre leak that made it through the seal cut down to a mere trickle. Where there was any colour left at all, it was murky and muddy, as if seen through twilight gloom.

One youma passed her, with skin the colour of leaf mould. Should Hubnerite send her to Earth, her skin would be a vibrant green. The world itself was stretched too thin, and the air tasted bitter and sour.

On a freman’s freehold; beholden to a minor lord and thrice-nested or more, it would be almost unbearable. A squalid life of constant starvation. Little wonder that such creatures clamoured for a title that would raise them above their peers. Little wonder that they leapt at the risk of death for a few days or weeks on Earth.

Hubnerite’s home was at the centre of the viscounty. Though she had folded space again within the chapel to grant herself more breathing room, the atmosphere was warm and welcoming. Energy funnelled from all over the viscounty pooled here; the tax she was owed by her inferiors. Her skin no longer felt taut and too dry, and the lessened gravity meant a literal weight lifted from her shoulders. She sighed happily, running a mental eye over the undisturbed wards as the doors swung shut behind her.

She opened her eyes to find half a statue in front of her. The legs, torso and left arm of a petrified simian beast stood a few paces from the door; bisected by a diagonal cut. A few feet to the side, a pile of broken stone body parts made up what was left of the other half of Hubnerite’s personal manservant.

She tensed instantly, fading into a half-seen shadow in the gloom and bringing the strongest hate-curse she could muster to her lips. It would leave her drained and apathetic, but anything it struck would be burnt to ash. In utter silence, she slid through her home, following the faint sounds of a crackling hearth to her bedroom where she slipped a tendril of her awareness under the door as a barely visible pool of shade.

There was a redheaded man in slacks and a green silk shirt sitting in her armchair, next to the fireplace. He looked up as she saw him, nodded pleasantly and returned to the book he was reading.

Ice pooling down her spine, Hubnerite retracted the feeler, unlocked the door and stepped inside. Her wards, she noticed, still seemed untouched.

“Duc Nephrite,” she greeted the General of the North American Plate. “It is an honour.”

“Vicomtesse,” he returned easily, laying the book aside. It was, she noticed, her personal favourite volume of the Martian sagas. It had also been on her bookshelf when she’d left the room, with nothing distinguishing it from the other fourteen volumes around it. She repressed a shiver. She had gone to incredible lengths to trawl those texts from her own memories and have the copies made. To have him touch something which had come from such an intimate part of her mind was a deep violation.

And he knew it.

“I see you satisfied Duc Jadeite’s ire enough to avoid censure,” Nephrite continued. “Wonderful. I would be sad to lose your aid at a time like this, and he seemed surlier than usual.”

“His Grace makes no secret of his distaste for me and my methods,” Hubnerite replied, closing the door and crossing the room to sink into a leather-backed chair with a sigh. “But he acknowledges their value, and I was able to provide him with enough information to satisfy him. May I ask why my manservant had to die? I can’t believe he would deny entry to one of your status.”

“No doubt,” Nephrite shrugged. “But he saw me enter, and I would rather keep our correspondence private.”

Hubnerite closed her eyes. Gaihan had been unusually loyal and a formidable fighter, but far from bright. He hadn’t needed to be, not when the wards would highlight any normal intruder. It would have been child’s play for Nephrite to slip by him unseen. A power play, then. Or a chilling reminder that her status was ever-dependent on her successes.

“Of course,” she agreed. “Let me bring you up to date on what I have discovered, then...”

Nephrite listened in silence, humming here and there and nodding at her conclusions. The pleasant little half-smile never left his face as she spoke. Nor did it reach his eyes. Only when she described Jadeite’s decision to move on the Martian shrine maiden himself did he show any sort of reaction, chuckling and shaking his head.

“So he’s finally frustrated enough to act. I’m honestly surprised it took him this long. Never a patient man, Jadeite. In this life or the last.” He thought for a moment. “Well, it’s not a bad plan. So.”

The smile vanished. Cool green eyes appraised her dispassionately as he leaned forward and folded his hands. “Now tell me what you _didn’t_ tell him.”

Hubnerite shut her eyes and took one slow breath, then another, centring herself. She let her fear and resentment of these monsters in men’s flesh rise to fill her. Damn these princes of the Earth! Damn them and their unearned power and the way their ilk – and their counterparts – looked down on her and damn them for the way they let her know that they could crush her casually! And then, just as she couldn’t bear to hold them in any longer, she let them flow away; vented and released harmlessly into the ambient air as energy. Her shadow writhed and squirmed behind her; cast in a different monstrous image with every snap and flare of the flickering flames.

The moment passed. Her eyes opened. Nephrite was watching her with mild interest. Like a resentful pet that had just made an inconsequential act of defiance, and now stood confused at the lack of a response.

“The Queen’s ire over my overt action is strange,” she said, clinical and calm. “Chevalier Derella was far more obvious in her attack on the outdoor concert, and there was no hint of disapproval. Her action was undoubtedly more obvious to any remnants of the Silver Empire than my own, and yet I suspect Duc Jadeite had license to execute me if I returned without information of great value.”

Nephrite nodded, which was far from reassuring. Nevertheless, she continued. “I... presume, then, that it is merely an excuse, and that in truth I infringed upon some other rule or law she has set in place. One she has chosen not to make known to her subjects. And perhaps even her Generals?”

His face betrayed nothing. She knew better than to risk a look into his shadow. Duc Nephrite was a diviner and she would be a fool to pit her talents against his. “Odd indeed,” he said. “But that’s an observation drawn from your talk with him, not one omitted from it.”

Hubnerite’s vision blurred for a moment, and she squeezed her eyes shut. She was exhausted. And feeling spread thin and aching. She’d been using far too much magic over the past couple of days, and being back in the Dark Kingdom and having to face two of the Four Generals wasn’t helping.

“There was... a girl,” she said slowly. “I didn’t mention her to Jadeite because she was... meaningless. A place to hide after I escaped. But her shadow was saturated with power – she had a natural talent. With the right training – perhaps she might be a peer of mine.” She paused carefully. “She may even be a Vahian reincarnate, mind still asleep. You knew the Venus, back before, didn’t you? She felt like that. Though her shadow had none of the scars I might expect, so perhaps she has no such legacy and it is her own talent. But what a descendent-witch of Vah would be doing in Japan, of all places...” 

“The races have mixed beyond recovery,” Nephrite said with a casual flippancy. “All men are all basically the same now – of a likeness in height, colouration, baseless materialism and ignorance of anything save the flesh. Only traces remain in,” he waved a hand, “hair colours, nothing more. Still, perhaps an atavism or two may crop up.”

“Perhaps.” She shook her head. “Her friend, too – she mentioned the shadow-sense gained by those wounded by the unseen. Either occult knowledge, natural genius or a freakishly lucky guess. They may be nothing, but they were a piece that didn’t make sense.”

She frowned. “Come to think of it, I think the blonde was the one who had the shrine maiden’s ofuda. Perhaps the three of them are a small cabal, dabbling in occult knowledge.” She pursed her lips. “Hmm. We never did discover how Derella’s pet store operation was burnt down.”

“If they’re working together, Jadeite will wrap that thread up when he moves on the Martian girl,” Nephrite sighed. “Very well. Keep me informed, and I will of course intercede if Jadeite should threaten you without the Queen’s direct order. And once we’re fully established on Earth...”

He smiled, and handed her the book of Martian sagas. “Then, my lady, we can go and begin to rebuild _your_ world.”

He tilted his head and seemed to muse on something for a moment. “I wonder; how much are you that woman? The one who worked with us from Mars. You weren’t awakened as we Generals were. Does your other half not have an opinion on this?”

The tiny Chinese woman took the book he offered, cradling it like a child as she looked up at him. “Mars is my home,” she said flatly. “My life on Earth means nothing to me. And don’t speak of me as if I’m a petulant child with fractured memories like our enemies. I remember enough to make a choice of which life I want to live; which identity I want to claim. I choose this one.”

Nephrite smiled sardonically, raising a hand. “No need for defensiveness, Vicomtesse. I spoke only in curiosity. I wouldn’t know, myself. Now, if that will be all?”

He rose to leave, dusting off his slacks. The casual Terran clothing seemed out of place here in the Dark Kingdom, but he wore it as naturally as Jadeite did his armour, and seemed no less threatening for it. Hubnerite seemed to be wrestling with something as he walked away, and just as he reached the door, she spoke softly.

“Duc Nephrite? There is one more thing you should know.”

He glanced at her over his shoulder, already reaching for the door handle. It was only at her next words that he stopped dead.

“It concerns Prince Endymion.”

...


	17. A Missing Miko! Attack at the Shrine!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ignition

Heat hung heavy in the air, made worse by the humidity of late August. The sound of chirping crickets filled the air. Hikawa Shrine’s place at the top of a hill made the temperature slightly more bearable, but it was still a sweltering experience that few wanted to venture out in. As a result, the shrine was almost empty. Normal visitors preferred the comfort of air-conditioned homes to the muggy heat. The experience in heavy miko robes was one of abject misery.

Especially if, for instance, you were being forced by a cruel and domineering übermädchen to suffer through torturous physical exercise.

“That’s not how German works, Usagi,” Ami pointed out. Unlike certain shrine maidens in the vicinity, _she_ was sitting in the shade, book in hand. “A ‘mensch’ is a person of integrity and honour, not just a man. And ‘mädchen’ is a diminutive.” She paused, frowning. “How do you even know about the übermensch, anyway?”

“I’m not as stupid as everyone thinks I am!”

“Did you see it on TV?”

“... that was a lucky guess,” Usagi groaned. “Rei, c’mon, I’m dying here. My heart will definitely give out if you make me go through this again! I feel like I’ve run a marathon!”

Rei was unimpressed. “It’s kagura,” she said flatly. She seemed offensively not-bothered by the heat. It was horribly unfair. “It’s literally just stepping and arm movements. A monkey could remember it. You’re smarter than a monkey, aren’t you? Prove to me that you are. Now, go through it again.”

Muttering rebelliously, Usagi took her start position and twirled her bamboo cane theatrically. Adopting a calm expression, she waited for Rei to start a steady tune with her bells, and began to carefully go through the motions. Step, step, lift. Turn, step, circle. She spread her arms wide, letting the wide sleeves of her haori hang down, and lifted them high in an arching gesture.

Step, step, turn, circle the arms, step, step, fumble, drop...

“Usagi!”

“I’m _tired!_ ” the trainee miko whined. Her blonde hair hung lank in front of her face, getting in her eyes. “My arms aren’t made to be held up for that long! The cane is heavy!” She spun around, hope lighting up her face. “Ami! Do you want to try? I bet you’d be a great shrine maiden! You’d remember everything, and you know all kinds of cool things about the shrine, and you’d-”

“I’m happy reading, thanks,” Ami demurred. Ami also looked unfairly unaffected by the heat, although that was more because she was getting to sit in the shade – and next to a pond, too! Usagi wilted, but rallied quickly as she caught sight of another escape. “What about them! They look like they need help, right?”

Rei turned, grabbing one of Usagi’s sleeves to stop her making a break for it unseen. A small group of schoolgirls had braved the muggy heat and the perilous climb, and were milling around the shrine entrance taking pictures of each other and chatting.

“They don’t seem like they need any help,” Rei said. “Now...”

“But your grandpa is heading for them! They need rescuing!”

Rei glanced over again as Usagi pointed at the old man’s beeline toward the new arrivals. From the frustrated sound she made as she looked back, she was forced to agree.

“Fine,” she gritted out. “ _I_ will run through a few kagura examples. _You_ go over there and announce it so they have an excuse to escape Grandfather. And then you will come back here and watch what it is _supposed_ to...”

Usagi was already halfway across the courtyard. She heard a huff of annoyance in her wake, but no yelling. _Excellent_. A clean getaway! Now to do some good by rescuing these girls from Rei’s grandpa!

This was easier said than done, and by the time she managed to pry the old man away and apologise for him, Rei and Ami had acquired company in the form of a blond man who was watching Rei perform; an American who looked to be in his early twenties with a sharp nose and a neat Western suit. Somehow, he didn’t appear to be sweating, or even suffering a damp shirt from the humidity. It really was a _crime_ , Usagi reflected, that the only person this sweltering heat was affecting properly was her. It could at least have spared everyone equally! Maybe it was a youma plot!

The blond man applauded lightly as Usagi rejoined them, looking Rei up and down in a way that made her hackles rise. “A beautiful performance,” he praised. “It’s rare to see a shrine maiden with such talent and grace. I’m glad a few exemplars of the old ways are still around.”

Rei preened. Usagi glared. Something about him put her on edge, but she couldn’t pinpoint exactly what. She focused her mystical senses on him as Rei said something Rei-ish back, but he didn’t _seem_ evil. Actually, he mostly seemed blurry.

Stupid slave-driving kagura lessons. The exhaustion and heat was making her head spin! And getting in the way of vital reconnaissance on possibly-evil flirty guys talking to Rei! Though Rei would probably have noticed if he were evil...

“Something wrong?” Ami asked quietly. Usagi jumped. “Only you’re looking at that guy like he’s last week’s youma.”

Rei laughed at something the man said, and Usagi shot him a dire look. “He seems like a sleaze,” she muttered. “And he’s _old_ and hitting on a high school student. He’d probably get on with _That Guy_ , and they could go off and be _creeps_ together, and pretend to be all polite to people’s friends and then laugh behind their backs and...”

She caught the look Ami was giving her and coughed. “Ah, it’s probably nothing,” she added. “Are we still on for tonight?”

“I’m up to date on my studying, so yes,” Ami nodded. “I can’t be out too late, though. I have early morning classes at school tomorrow that I need to be wide awake for. I think he’s leaving, by the way.”

Usagi spun and checked. He was. “I’ll be sure to come back to this shrine, then,” he told Rei with a wink as she tuned back into the conversation. “And perhaps see you again? A girl with your kind of potential shouldn’t be stuck here, and I see great things in your future.”

“I think I’m the one qualified to see the future here,” retorted Rei, her eyes dancing as she either missed or deliberately ignored Usagi’s eloquently pantomimed ‘don’t, no way, he’s a sleazeball’ gestures. “Come back next week; we’ll be going through the more complicated dances then. Assuming this one can handle the steps,” she added with a nod to Usagi. The man gave her a dismissive once-over before turning a creepy leer on Rei, making his farewells and slouching off. And good riddance.

“I thought he was quite charming, actually,” Ami commented. “That was a smile, not a leer. And he was hardly slouching.”

“Hmmph,” huffed Usagi, and snatched the bamboo cane from a rather startled Rei. If it avoided creepy assholes hitting on her friends, she supposed she’d have to suffer through dancing in the muggy heat for just a little longer.

...

The evening was no cooler or less humid than the day, and Rei wiped the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand as she trudged around the shrine doing her end-of-day duties. She had far less to do now that Usagi was helping – for all that Rei might needle the girl, she _was_ a fairly helpful assistant in running the shrine – but there were still a few things that needed her personal attention. It kept her working after Usagi left, and for all that everyone else seemed to make such a fuss about a little bit of heat, it was still more humid than she liked. Her grandfather had turned in as well; complaining of backache. Which left Rei to do his share of the work, too. Her ankles were killing her.

A sound from the top of the steps drew her attention, and she glanced over to see a woman nearing the top. Rei frowned. It wasn’t usual for people to show up so late. Well, Usagi had, but there had been something deeply wrong then. She had been chased there by a group of thugs. Frowning, Rei leant her broom against the wall and went over to investigate.

“Ma’am?” she called warily. “Is something wrong?”

Then she gasped. Closer up, without the twilight and the backdrop of the city lights hiding all but the woman’s general outline, Rei could see that she was a mess. Her hair was dishevelled, her hands shaking, her shoes mud-stained and tights laddered. She let out a sob upon seeing Rei, eyes filled with fear.

“Please!” she gasped. “Please, help me look! My son – he’s only little, I can’t find him, I don’t... I had him and then he was gone, he was right there, I wouldn’t have left him... I can’t... I can’t remember where I last had him, he’s gone...” Her words spilt out of her mouth, running around in loops.

“Hey, hey,” Rei said, alarmed. Ankles forgotten, she hurried forward to catch the woman as she sagged, supporting her weight and squeezing her shoulder reassuringly. Hating herself for the suspicion but still wary after what she had seen in the pet shop, Rei concentrated and tried to tease out any evil energy that might be afflicting the woman.

There was none. Rei gave her another squeeze, sorting through her terrified babble. “Stay calm,” she said. “Your son is missing? I’ll help find him. Hold on...”

She closed her eyes, probing, and then opened them again in surprise. She’d expected to have to put some effort into it; perhaps even gaze into the sacred fire to search out his image. But tracing the woman’s panic back to her son and finding him barely took a murmured invocation. She could see-sense-feel him like an ember, glowing in a grey world. He wasn’t far from the bottom of the hill. As far as she could tell, he was uncomfortable and a little cold, but safe. There was a little spark of potential there, too. Ah. Maybe he’d been drawn to the shrine and wandered away from his mother.

“He’s close by,” she reassured the woman. “Just at the bottom of the hill. It’s probably just that he got lost. Come on, this way.”

The woman didn’t stop her fretting Rei hadn’t really expected her to. People tended not to trust the mystic arts, sometimes even after they had proof of them. She’d been looked at suspiciously and muttered about more times than she cared to remember for her gifts. The woman was looking around, not willing to trust her. But at least she followed, and they trooped down the steps in the dying light. Rei focused on the feeling of the woman’s son and the burn in her ankles and thighs to block out the woman’s muttering – a fearful rambling digression not meant for Rei that went nowhere, overlain with worry, horror and the sick belief that she was a terrible mother.

Rei could have told her she wasn’t, of course. She’d lost count of the number of toddlers she’d had to wrangle when they tried to wander away from their parents. But the woman wouldn’t have listened. Not without her child in her arms.

Ten metres past the bottom of the steps, and the woman wasn’t following her anymore. She had stopped dead. Rei looked back to see why and found her standing placidly, eyes dull, face calm and blank. Her panic was completely gone.

And the acrid scent of metal curled around her; thick and heavy and suffocating to Rei’s already-primed senses.

Something moved in the shadows. Rei discretely pulled out an ofuda, rising up onto the balls of her feet. The shadow-thing moved forward and resolved itself into the blond man from earlier that day. She blinked in surprise, and _almost_ relaxed.

Then she saw the toddler held in the crook of his arm, and, worse, _felt_ the menacing aura that hung around him like a coiled snake. It surged forwards, enveloping her, choking, her, surrounding her until she could barely breathe.

And the worst thing was his smile. It was a quiet, confident smile. His eyes met hers and she knew at a gut level that he knew exactly how she was feeling. He just didn’t care.

Rei lunged, prayers on her lips. The ofuda blazed with spiritual fire as she drew it back to force it onto him.

Without even shifting the baby’s weight, the man slapped her arm aside with terrible force. Bone-breaking force. She heard the snap and her arm was suddenly ice and needles and red-hot iron. She cried out as the breath was ripped from her lungs, tried desperately to fumble for another ofuda, felt the touch of cold fingers on her forehead...

Darkness took her.

...

Jadeite cracked his knuckles, looking down at the unconscious girl. It was a good thing he’d decided to come himself, he noted. She was quite quite heavily bedecked with ofudas and warding talismans – ones with no small amount of power behind them, for someone from this age. Yes, she was definitely kin to the spirits – perhaps even the child of one. And since youma were incompetent, simple-minded morons who couldn’t be trusted with the basic of tasks almost without exception, they’d have thrown herself at her warding and died in droves. And then his idiotic lackeys would have taken pointlessly heavy losses to capture one pathetic little human.

Yes, this way was much more efficient. Her attack had been crude and untrained. No one from the olden days would have been so foolish as to try to banish someone like him while forgetting that he had hands with which to defend himself. Her impetuousness had left her wide-open and undefended; sacrificing defence for an offence that posed no threat at all to someone of his calibre. 

He adjusted his hair, smiling. Today had been a pleasant diversion out in the fresh air of Earth. Getting to stretch his legs and act had been a pleasant diversion after so long spent sitting in the Dark Kingdom listening to morons report their bumbling.

“You, here,” he said, beckoning the enthralled woman over with a finger and handing her child off to her. It squalled discontentedly, and he silenced it with a wave of the same hypnotic power that had captured its mother. So little resistance, so little capacity to think for themselves. Though he was helped there by the fact that the ancestors of the woman and child had long ago sworn to serve him. Their flesh and blood remembered their old oaths, even if their hearts and minds did not.

Kneeling down, Jadeite gathered the shrine maiden into his arms with an appreciative nod. She wasn’t uncomely, and while her efforts had been nothing to a Dark General, her latent power was considerable. Properly turned, she would be a valuable tool in his arsenal.

He glanced back at the woman and her babe. There was no point in wasting energy, he supposed.

“You. Follow.”

Thrall on his heels, Duc Jadeite left the Hikawa Shrine behind without looking back.

...

Love, light and the forces of justice had come to Shapelin Fitness Centre.

“Stop!” echoed through the mist-wreathed upper floor. “Fitness centres are places where you can lose weight after eating too much ice cream during a movie binge and getting too fat to fit into your favourite dress! Corrupting them to drain energy from people who care about their health goes against everything they stand for! In the name of the Moon, I won’t forgive this!”

Listening to her comrade from a vantage point in the fog, Mercury couldn’t help but feel a little conflicted. Fighting evil by moonlight was not, as it turned out, quite like she had expected. On the one hand, she wasn’t exactly... _complaining_ about the difference. If she looked at things logically, it was a positive one – certainly far better than the alternative. It was just...

... she hadn’t expected it to be quite so _easy_ , was all. Her first two fights alongside Moon had been desperate, frantic, terrified affairs where victory had come by the skin of their fingers and adrenaline had kept her heart pounding for hours afterwards.

This, on the other hand...

“Moon Tiara Action!”

Mercury sighed as the spinning disc shot through the mist, rebounding off two walls and decapitating three youma en route back to Moon’s hand. The thrall-bound gym-goers flailed helplessly at imagined enemies, two of them actually running into one another and starting a fistfight. This wasn’t a fight, it was a formality. There had been a dozen youma and three times that in mind-controlled humans here to begin with, but they would have stood no chance against her and Moon even in a fair fight, let alone blinded and panicked by an accusing voice out of nowhere.

And this was the third time they’d done this in the past week! Maybe Luna was right in describing this level of opposition as “trash”. An expansive gesture sent ropes of water coiling around the last two youmas’ feet, tripping them over and making them easy prey for the purifying light of Moon’s sceptre. Mercury scanned the area again as her friend moved in, but she could honestly have spent her time just as productively if she’d brought a book. The youma they’d identified before coming in hadn’t had any backup, and the five they’d chased down to the basement were the last ones left.

White light flashed, the enthralled humans dropped, and that was it. Another scheme foiled. Mercury let the fog disperse as she examined the “weight-loss pods” that had been advertised outside.

“Victory!” Moon crowed, wandering over and spinning the sceptre round like a cheerleader’s baton. Mercury personally gave it two, maybe three minutes before she hit herself in the face with it, but saying so would only hurt her feelings. And also probably wouldn’t stop her. Besides, she had other things to occupy her attention.

“I wonder what type of magic these are?” she murmured, scanning the pods with the Mercury computer. “Draining the Ha, I suppose? The body?” She skimmed over the readout, but was forced to admit that she’d need to learn a whole new set of jargon before she really understood how the rules of this magic worked. Luna had only really brushed the surface.

“So, should we smash them?”

“No,” said Mercury hastily. “No, I don’t think that would be a good idea just yet. Let me take a few more scans, and hopefully once I’ve learnt more I can figure out how they work. It might be useful to know in case we find something like this again.”

Moon looked a little dubious at this, but shrugged. “If you say so,” she said, before her attention shifted. “Oh! Hey there! Ow!”

Wincing and rubbing her shoulder, she let the sceptre go back to... wherever it was when she wasn’t using it, which was another thing Mercury really needed to look into at some point, and trotted over to the nearest prone form. The mind-controlled gym-goers were starting to stir.

“Hi! Don’t be scared, the monsters are all gone! I’m the Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon, agent of Love and Justice!” She posed dramatically, one hand on her hip and the other held out in a reassuring thumbs-up. “Are you all okay? Here, let me help.”

Mercury left her to it while she examined the pods, checking back every so often. It was probably because she was splitting her attention that it took her a while to notice that Moon wasn’t just mingling with the small crowd. Oh, she certainly was doing that; posing for selfies, dispensing minor healing and signing autographs. But she was also reassuring, herding and directing them away from the pods and back upstairs. The crowd was slowly getting smaller, and nobody was screaming or going into panic attacks.

Maybe that was why it took her a few moments to realise that Moon had gone quiet.

“I think I have enough data now,” she said, stowing the computer away as she turned. “We can go ahead and- Moon?”

Sailor Moon was standing rigid, her eyes unfocused. As Mercury and the few remaining civilians watched, her eyes fluttered half-closed. She turned her head, as if seeking the source of a sound none of them could hear. Then, with a convulsive shudder, she snapped out of it. All levity was gone from her expression as she looked at Mercury.

“People?” she called, without shifting her gaze. “We need to go fight evil somewhere else now! You be safe getting home, okay?” Hurrying forward, she grabbed Mercury by the arm and dragged her closer to the pods. “We have a problem,” she hissed. “It’s-” a quick glance around, and she lowered her voice further, “Rei. She’s in trouble.”

Mercury’s face creased in worry. “At... you know, where she lives? I thought that was...”

“I know. It is. But she’s definitely in trouble. Big trouble.”

Mercury nodded, quick and curt. “There’s a river a few blocks from the shrine. Destroy these things and I’ll get us there as fast as possible.”

...

Two Senshi driven by worry could cover ground quickly. When one of them could teleport through bodies of water, they could move _extremely_ quickly.

They couldn’t, this time, move quickly enough.

“Nothing,” said Mercury, lowering her computer and looking up the steps towards the tori gate at the shrine’s entrance. “No signs of a fight, and her grandfather is still there, but... Rei’s gone. There’s a faint trace of something...”

“Ofuda,” Moon filled in. “I know what her magic feels like.” She looked around, her eyes half-closed. Lifting up her hands, she felt the air with her palms. “It’s... warm here. It was... around here. She tried to do something.” She tasted the air, face screwing up in disgust. “I don’t like this,” she whispered. “There’s that nasty rust taste around. It really stinks, too. This is bad.”

Mercury frowned, tapping a quick sequence of keys. “... yes, I think I can see it.” Flowing text that hovered at the edge of understanding trailed its way down her visor, the characters forming larger shapes in their own right. “Some residual magic. And...”

She bit her lip, looking at the black-rust shape of thick, _ugly_ words that seemed to swamp the area and the little red-orange marks that Rei had left. “Something very powerful, and very evil. Not a youma, I think. Stronger. More like that Hubnerite woman.”

“So she tracked down Rei and kidnapped her?” Moon scowled. “Well... _fine_ then. Mercury? Sorry, but you might be late for school tomorrow.”

The sceptre appeared in a flash of light, and she took it in a two-handed grip like a baseball bat, her fingers flexing on the handle.

“We’re going to get her back.”

...


	18. The Missing Bus Mystery! PI Moon Investigates!

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Mercury asked, brushing aside a branch as she followed Moon into the woods around the Hikawa Shrine in search of her ‘brilliant idea’.

“Yes.”

“I mean, you’re making a lot of assumptions.”

“Yes.”

“Is this really…”

“ _Yes_ ,” Moon repeated stubbornly. “Look, just trust me on this, okay? They are not normal birds. They probably know something. Did you call Luna again?”

“Yes.” Mercury’s lips thinned. “She’s still not picking up. Do you think she’s in trouble too?”

Moon cocked her head, considering it. “Nah,” she decided. “I’m sure I’d know if she was. Well, pretty sure. She’s probably just doing cat stuff. Or spirit stuff. Cat-spirit stuff. I mean, she’s psychic so she knows what she’s doing. Argh, come on, where are they?”

She thumped the nearest tree, which did nothing but bring a few leaves and a loose twig down on her head. The Senshi had been searching the woods along the slopes of the shrine hill for ten minutes now, and had yet to find the crows Moon was certain were a lead. Honestly, Mercury was starting to wonder if her friend might not have imagined them. If they _were_ here, they were very well-hidden.

Raucous cawing nearby caught Moon’s attention, and she was off again. Mercury hurried to catch up and found her gesturing with wild, extravagant movements at a couple of crows. Her hair streamers were somewhat more tangled and leaf-filled than they had been a moment ago. The rest of the flock was perched safely out of reach on the branches of the nearby trees, occasionally shifting position or fluttering to a new vantage point. The two main targets of Moon’s diatribe, though, were sitting on a rock and watching her intently, possibly in the hope that she had a sandwich.

“… and something’s wrong, I’m sure! She’s nowhere in the shrine, and something really dark and nasty took her! She tried to use an ofuda or something at the bottom of the steps, but the metal-tasting thing won!”

Mercury quietly slid her visor down, focusing on the birds. They didn’t seem magical. They were just crows, no different from…

… wait.

“Oh,” she murmured softly. “Oh, that’s quite clever.”

“Huh?” Moon glanced back quizzically, and Mercury took a few moments to confirm what she was seeing before explaining.

“They’re hiding what they are somehow. I think… I think they’re sort of pulling the Name of the crow flock over them. That’s why they’re not moving too far from the others. It’s like the other crows are mist that allow them to hide.”

Moon hummed a vague acknowledgement. “But they are definitely spirits, right?”

“Yes.” Mercury nodded firmly. “Now that I know what I’m looking for I can see it, it’s just… a really good disguise if you’re scanning generally, and not looking in depth. You half-expect to see crows in the flock, and so you do. But…” she lowered her voice and drew closer. “Moon, I’m not sure this is going to work. They’ve been… bound, somehow. I can’t figure out exactly what my visor is telling me, but even if they were powerful once, they’re much lessened from what they were. They may not even be intelligent anymore.” She paused. “Well, no more intelligent than your average crow,” she conceded. “They’re very clever birds. Did you know that crows in Tokyo have learned to place snails under car wheels when the cars are stopped at lights so they’ll crush them?”

“No, I didn’t know that. And I’m trying anyway,” Moon huffed. “Hey, you two! Look, I know you’re not just crows! Crows don’t steal sandwiches and taunt shrine maidens and laugh at people like you do! And you’re always watching Rei when she’s not looking; I’ve seen you!”

Mercury winced quietly. “Moon,” she hissed. “Less personal information, please.”

“Oh, right. Sorry. Don’t tell anyone that, birds. But look, you care about Rei! So do we! And she’s been taken by something really bad; something that wants to hurt her! We _need_ your help. Please. If there’s anything you can tell us – anything at all – it might be the key to saving Rei’s life.”

The crows regarded her silently for a moment longer. One croaked quietly, and the other answered with a derisive caw. Then, as one, they took off in a flurry of feathers. The entire flock burst into flight as they did, circling above the two young Senshi in a dark cloud that cast them into shadow. Their harsh calls grew to a clamour, echoing up and down the hillside as Moon spun and whipped her head from side to side, searching for the two she’d been talking to amidst the rest.

They dived at her from the middle of the circling mass, cawing still, a trail of inky feathers trailing behind them. Moon shrieked and threw her arms up as they filled her vision, blotting out everything behind wide black wings, and…

_A thousand floating candles decorated the ceiling, each held in a cradle of red-gold leaves. They mirrored the graceful steps of the dancers beneath them as people from across the Empire whirled and spun together._

_Laughing, she let Lady Venus twirl her; her golden skirt flaring out as she balanced on a toe. The older woman was humouring her, she knew, but this Ball was just so exciting! And not just because it meant she could wear more than her usual white and silver. It also meant…_

_“Princess,” came a harsh voice from behind her. She winced, and turned away from her partner to meet the ancient woman’s gaze. It never failed to make her feel like a naughty child, for all that she was past her thirtieth year now and hadn’t done anything wrong recently. Apart from existing, which was probably enough of an excuse where this critic was concerned._

_“Lady Mars,” she greeted the old crone politely, giving no sign of her thoughts. The old woman had barged onto the dance floor without a care for the dancers who had scurried away from her… her very mean presence! “Can I help you?”_

_An eye of liquid brass and obsidian bored into her like it was looking at everything wrong with the solar system. Its brown partner was scarcely any less scornful. “Yes, for once,” Mars said. “The Lady Mercury has hidden herself away somewhere. Dig her out and remind her that your mother ordered her participation, not just her presence. And then pay more attention to your duties, and less to your dancing.”_

_Slumping, and with a wistful look at the dance floor, she nodded. “Of course. Do you know where-”_

_“If I knew where she’d retreated to, I wouldn't be telling you to find her,” Mars stated. “You have nothing else to attend to, so go looking.” She made a ‘tch’ sound between her teeth. “Lady Venus, we have matters to discuss.”_

_With a resentful pout, she set off, muttering quiet oaths against ancient hags as she went. Still, it was the Lady Mercury she was looking for, which meant a few obvious places to look. She struck lucky on her second attempt when she poked her head into an alcove and found_

__Ami! No, not Ami; she was older and her eyes were different. But she looked so similar! She could be a half-sister, or- __

_a blue-haired woman, youthful in form but far older than her at heart, wearing dress-robes that were all translucent ice and silver and had to be a century or more out of date! She had a book open and was flicking through it disinterestedly, scanning each page only for a moment before moving onto the next._

_Perfect. She’d only met the woman once before, years ago, but this had to be-_

_“Your highness,” the woman said, looking up. She stood from her seat, looking down her nose. “Tell your mother…” she paused briefly, “… and the Lady Mars, that I did exactly what I was told to. I’m here at her ridiculous party. I came all the way from my shrine in the solosphere and this is disrupting some crucial research. Now, leave me in peace. Enough people have tried to natter at me already.” She made a small sound of frustration. “Honestly. Why wouldn't she let me send Cyclamen in my stead as usual? Nothing I do here can be more important than what I’m working on right now! I am on the edge of a radical breakthrough and here I am, expected to make – ha – diminutive smalltalk with tiny minds.”_

_“I-“ started the Princess, frowning_

... because this wasn’t Ami. This was nothing like Ami! Ami was soft and gentle and always willing to help people with cruel evil malicious mathematics and-

_“No, that wasn’t meant for you. Go away, and relay that to the Lady Mars.” She frowned. “I suppose I’ll have to move, since you’ll tell her I’m here.” She swept a look across Serenity that said she was irritating and inconvenient, but not quite worth the effort of actually getting angry at._

_“… well… if you don’t want me telling her, I could stay here with you!” Serenity suggested. Anything to avoid another confrontation with the Lady Mars. “You could tell me about your research! In… the Sun, right? Wouldn’t that be really hot and burn you?”_

_The irritated look became one of icy disdain._

_“Drivel from those who have no hope of understanding my research is what I was avoiding,” Lady Mercury said flatly. “Run along, child.”_

_There was no arguing with that tone. Stomping off in a huff, the Princess_

decided she didn’t like this woman at all! People who knew more than you were cool, but people who felt everyone else should be forced to know that they knew less than them were seriously anti-cool!

 _started on her way back to the main hall. Fine then! She’d find the Lady Mars and she_ would _tell her where the Lady Mercury was! And that she was planning to move again! And… and that she was being rude about the party!_

_A conversation caught her ear, along with a deep, familiar voice._

_“… even so, I worry about why. A famine such as this should not be possible, and I have yet to hear a reason for it. Blighted crops, stolen life – it concerns me.”_

_“Likely some twisted monstrosity,” another man replied derisively. Younger, she thought. “It will be found and brought to heel soon, I have no doubt. At worst perhaps some wandering fiend from another star system has crept past the argent defences of the outer system. No thanks to our oh-so-generous hosts, should that be the case.”_

_“Foul things have been emerging more frequently of late,” said the first deep voice. Her Prince. She smiled at the note of worry in it and started towards the loose group clustered around one of the ornamental trees. “Though I suppose they are still of little account when found.”_

_“Little account indeed,” laughed one of the courtiers clustered around the two Terran men. One was indeed her beloved Prince; his dark brow graced by a crown of woven branches. The other was wearing armour – armour! At a harvest ball! – and had the facial markings of a knight of Elysion. “Why, I recall quite a thrilling tale of a creature I fought and slew aboard the Erubescent Melody…”_

_“I hardly think ‘thrilling’ is a word to describe the loss of an entire Venusian sky-citadel,” she snapped, a sharp pang of anger dismissing any plans she’d had of a graceful introduction in the eyes of her love. “Though I hadn’t until now known who had shown such stunning negligence in safeguarding the people of the Empire.”_

_The braggart had some skill in the arts of subtlety, and no emotion showed on his face as his attention snapped to her. But she felt the ugly hatred in his heart and saw his shadow writhe for a second._

_“Prince Endymion,” she added more warmly. “I’m delighted to see you here today, and I must thank you – personally,” she added, letting a tiny woven element of her heart slip into his ears alone to convey the fullness of her intent, “for the most terribly generous aid you gave to those poor souls caught in this dreadful famine.”_

Wait, she thought. You could do that with magic? She had to learn how to do that. Except... surely she already knew? After all, hadn’t she just...

 _“You speak overfamiliarly to our prince, chit,” the braggart sneered, and she felt a flash of his hatred again – hotter this time, sharper, more vicious. It was more than a dislike of her interruption now. He’d recognised her. She shared a glance with Endymion, but he didn’t seem worried, so the elysian didn’t_ know _._

_She had a feeling he suspected, though. And from the way his shadow writhed, he disapproved._

_“Jadeite,” Endymion said, resting a hand on his shoulder and giving her an apologetic look. “Leave the Princess be.”_

_Duc Jadeite. One of the Four Tellurian Lords, the ducs of Earth._

_Something told her this wouldn’t be the last she’d see of him._

... Moon opened her eyes with a gasp.

“Oh...” she murmured. “Spitballs. Mercury! I think I know who we’re up against! And it’s bad. It’s really, really bad. We have to get Rei away from him!”

...

Rei Hino woke to the sound of dripping. It was dark and cool, wherever she was.

“What, again?” she mumbled, trying to shake the foggy feeling from her head. This better not be Moonshadow deciding she needed more cryptic commentary. She pinched the bridge of her nose, and screwed her eyes shut, opening them again to squint through the gloom.

... except no, wait. It wasn’t dark at all, and the coolness was just a pleasant sea breeze. A sparkling sea spread out over the horizon in front of her, spotted with little boats and their brightly coloured sails. The grass was long and slightly redder than grass should be, and the air was rich and thick with floral pollen. A faint heat haze shimmered all around. She was sitting somewhere very comfortable, in a stone structure that looked like it was out of some kind of ancient history book.

“I am dreadfully sorry,” a melodious male voice said from behind her. “The transition to my realm sometimes takes people badly.”

Rei racked her brain, sorting through what she remembered. There was someone… she had been helping someone and then… and then something had happened, something which had left her feeling cold inside. She looked towards the voice, meeting the honest and concerned blue gaze of a young blond man. He looked to be in his early twenties, and he was rather handsome – American, if she had to guess. “You were…” she began.

“I met you at your shrine earlier today. I walk the world in disguise sometimes,” the man said. “Oh, but I apologise – introductions first. I am Jadeite. Seldom have I see shrine maidens so attached and dutiful – and with such spiritual strength.” He gave her a lingering and knowing look.

Rei blushed, feeling his eyes on her. She looked down, and realised that she was wearing an intensely green, translucent dress that felt cool to the touch. In fact, it felt like her mother’s jade earrings –one of the few things she had left to remember her by. But that was impossible. You couldn’t make dresses out of stone.

On top of that not only was this not her shrine maiden robes but also she had no memory of putting it on. And it was rather daringly cut, with a low neckline and a midriff-baring panel.

Anger burned away her embarrassment, and she looked up to meet his eyes. “What am I wearing?” she demanded.

The man’s nostrils flared, but that moment passed and he was all smiles again. “As I was saying, I am Jadeite. I am embodiment of the Earth itself. I watch over this world, looking for special souls with the strength to serve me. My eyes fell upon your spiritual strength and your faithful purity, and so I sent my servants to bring you before me so that I might evaluate your worth. As for the sacred garb you now wear, I had my female servants dress and purify you before you could enter my presence. In the days of old, I would grant such things to only the most beautiful and worthy of the ladies-in-waiting and priestesses who attended to me.”

“Oh,” Rei said, the blush returning with full force. The anger that had been burning in her was suddenly quenched, with the sudden awareness of the honour he was paying her. “Um… well, I always try to be the best I possibly can,” she said, puffing herself up. The pressure behind her eyes and the odd feeling of tiredness wasn’t going away, though, and something about her eyes was aching. The jade-tipped rooftops of the town below wavered like they were in a heat haze, though it didn’t feel anywhere near hot enough for that.

“Long ago,” Jadeite said, “your ancestors knew to honour and respect me properly. I watched over them, keeping them safe along with my brothers – fellow deities who each cared for part of the Earth. But cruel and greedy witches called upon dark powers of the moon and wounded me terribly, locking us away for ten thousand years. I walked the earth, powerless to prevent the suffering and sins of mankind, straining against my chains. Now, finally, the curse of the moon-witches has broken and I am restored to the fullness of my power.” He reached out. “Take my hand, and become one of my priestesses, first among women, apostle of my glory. Become as your ancestors once were, and live a life of honour and praise.”

Her stupid cheeks were burning. How was she meant to feel like a mature, dignified woman before such a powerful being when she was blushing like a schoolgirl? Her head reeled, and it felt like things were wriggling behind her eyeballs. “I… I don’t know what to say…” she stuttered, choking down the butterflies in her stomach and the sudden nausea that crept in from nowhere.

“You need not say anything. I honour you with this. Take my hand and accept my power.” His tone was sterner, less soft, and he was staring at her. With a wave of his hand, her comfortable chair vanished and she felt herself forced to kneel. “Do you dare suggest I am mistaken?”

“I…” She felt like she was burning up. The heat haze made the shining sea before her look like a matte painting and…

… and she couldn’t feel the warmth of the sun. The sun was bright overhead, but it wasn’t warm on her skin. It was like she was sitting under a light. There was just the cool breeze, carrying with it its floral scent – and underneath it, the smell of rusted iron and a hint of rot. And as she looked around the heat haze seemed to sketch out a box around her.

“Take. My. Hand.”

...

“So you think this... this Jadeite has come back the same way we did,” Ami summarised, panting a little as she struggled to keep up with Usagi’s pace. “Along with Hubnerite, and who knows how many others?”

“Right! And he wasn’t a friend!” They’d transformed back for a babbled interrogation of Rei’s grandfather, who hadn’t been able to offer anything helpful. Now the pair whipped down the long flight of steps that led from shrine to street. Usagi was, Ami thought ruefully, very fast when she had a mission on her mind and wasn’t thinking about where her feet were going.

“Okay, but...” she started, breaking off to squeak as she almost overbalanced on a loose step. Flailing, she managed to snatch her balance back and avoid a very long and very painful fall. Usagi was a dozen steps ahead of her, and barely noticed beyond a quick glance back. “What does that have to do with the buses?”

They hit the bottom of the steps – which in Usagi’s case meant not slowing at all, hurdling the last five and catching herself on a lamppost to stop, making the entire thing shudder. Ami elected to brake herself on the handrail.

“People have been disappearing from them lately, right?” Usagi said, shaking out her hands and waiting for a nod from Ami before rushing onward. “So that’s our only lead. And if I remember right about Jadeite, I don’t think there are going to be any others. This is our best shot.”

Ami’s lips pursed. “Describe him?”

Usagi scowled.

“He’s... was, I mean; he was... proud. Cocky; really full of himself. Good at what he did, but not as good as he thought he was ‘cause he thought he was perfect. Hot-headed and touchy. But this is by, like, ancient moon-people standards? They lived really long lives, I think, so he’s probably way patient on our scale. It’s more like... you know that kind of guy who...” she held her arms out from her body like an ape and adopted a theatrical swagger, “... gets really offended when you insult him, and he might throw a punch then, or he might just hold a grudge for _months and months_ and hate you forever, and try to corner you in the playground with a gang of thugs and make you ‘apologise’, except that if you do he’ll just keep doing it, and...”

“I get the idea,” Ami said, wincing.

“... and if you just tell a teacher they’ll deny it and get all their friends to back them up, but if you give yourself a wrist burn and burst into really loud screaming tears they scatter, and you can trip the lead guy up and stamp on his foot and then keep bawling so that when the teacher comes over they get in trouble and don’t bother you again,” Usagi continued, acting out the stamping part on a discarded soda can. “And... anyway, yeah, he’s that kind of guy. But really old, and with magic. Also, swords. I think he had a sword. Unless it was a spear. Either way, it was probably magic too.”

Ami stared in mild horror.

“Oh,” Usagi added. “And I’m pretty sure he was- wait, there!” She flung out a hand dramatically, jangling her cheap bracelets, and pointed at a bus that was pulling away from the stop ahead of them. The dim internal lights and greasy windows revealed only one or two people dotting the seats; late-evening travellers near the end of the route. “Follow it, follow it!” Usagi urged, somehow contriving to speed up even more and leaving Ami gasping for air behind her. “We can wave it down and interrogate them on...”

A wobbling distortion opened up in front of the bus; dark-tinted ripples spreading out as though from a stone cast into water as the driver blithely continued forward into nothingness. The stench of iron and rot exploded in Usagi’s senses and she tripped; sprawling out along the pavement in a fit of hacking and retching. By the time she looked up, the road was empty. Two suited salarymen trudging home after a long day’s work continued trudging; utterly oblivious to the bus that had just driven through a hole in space directly in front of them.

“... tha-” she choked out as Ami staggered up to her and bent double, clutching her thighs and wheezing. Apparently, library studies and being organised and punctual weren’t much good for building stamina. Usagi, by contrast, had clearly built up her endurance with daily desperate sprints for class. “That’s definitely not part of the official route,” she finished. “Probably.”

“We... we need to get on the next one,” Ami said. “Come on, we can look at the bus timetables...”

“Nonsense!” Usagi scrabbled upright, ignoring her skinned hands and knees with only minor wincing as she dug the Disguise Pen out of her pocket. “Pretty PI Moon is here! I can get us a bus the proper way!”

Ami squinted through the brief flurry of light, and raised an eyebrow at the mid-twenties trenchcoat-clad blonde. “And that is?”

PI Moon didn’t miss a beat, pointing dramatically toward the bus stop. “We look at the bus timetables!”

...

The bus made a rattling sound as it pulled up to the stop. Its driver wore a wide smile as nobody stood to depart. There were half a dozen people slumped on various seats, staring blankly out of the windows with absent, glazed expressions that marked their expeditions into private worlds away from boredom.

Perfect. Beneath her human glamour, Kigaan could almost have cackled. This world was _wonderful!_ Bright and real and vibrant! The heavy gloom of the evening, the unidentifiable smear on her windscreen, the cold bite of the wind through her open side-window... it was _bliss_ , so rich and full of depth! These puny, pathetic mortals didn’t know what they possessed – didn’t _deserve_ this world! It was _right_ that the Dark Kingdom should take it from them, it was _justice_ that Duc Jadeite’s plans entrapped them so!

... well, it was also that they were stupid. And easily tricked. Oh, how they would _squeal_ when she steered through the portal and they saw the _horrible_ fates that awaited them. Her grin spread a little wider – slightly wider than the glamour could disguise, honestly, making her look a little unhinged. Yes, and perhaps she’d delay her next shift long enough to sample some human pleasures. Like _food_. She’d heard _glorious_ things about the food here, not to mention the...

“Hey!”

The voice jarred her out of her italics-laden inner monologue. Oh, there had been someone waiting at the stop. Strange, Kigaan hadn’t seen anyone waiting… but here she was; jumping through the open door with a shout. Another victim, willingly walking to her-

“How dare you!” accused the new passenger, pointing at Kigaan with unnecessary levels of flourish and a half-full water bottle. “How dare you do this!? Buses are meant to be safe and helpful bits of public transportation that let you cut ten minutes off your journey to school when you oversleep more than usual and realise you’re too late to run there! I won’t forgive anyone who uses them to prey on innocent—”

“Ticket!” This time Kigaan was the one to interrupt. Black Depths; how had this mortal chit figured out the scheme? Wait… this stop was near the shrine. Was she a shrine maiden? She didn’t look like one, but the smell of that holy place lingered on her. If she knew about the scheme she had to die, but Kigaan didn’t fancy her chances against a holy woman. Thinking frantically, the disguised youma played for time. “Show your ticket or buy one, lady! I don’t have time for crazy talk!”

“I… uh…” The woman looked briefly nonplussed, and patted down her pockets. “I don’t have a ticket. Or, um… any money. But- wait, no! Stop distracting me! I’ll punish you for using the bus system for evil like this! Moo- oof!”

The rest of her sentence was cut off as she went sprawling backwards out of the doors, courtesy of a swift kick to the midsection. Jamming the doors-close button, Kigaan jammed her foot down on the bus’s accelerator and yanked on the wheel. It was fine, it was fine. All she had to do was get this bus load of… uh, stirring, suddenly-worried-looking people back to the drop point. Once there, she explain what had happened – and do it in a way that wouldn’t have Duc Jadeite simply kill her for incompetence. She’d need to make sure he was in a good mood before she even raised the topic.

… maybe if she phrased it as having discovered a group of mortals who knew of the scheme? Yes… yes, mortals working with the shrine maiden, and… and with the Senshi as well! And the Bureaus! And they’d had an envoy with them so she couldn’t attack, but she’d gathered information and brought it back to the Duc like a loyal servant of-

“ _Justice!_ ” With a yell, the crazy human took a _flying leap_ through the closing doors even as the bus was moving! “I _said_ ,” she shouted, “buses are a noble way to get from place to place, and I won’t let you… ow, ow, _ow_ , and I’m gonna punish you extra-hard for kicking me like that! That really hurt! And you’re a youma! Drive us through the creepy negawhatsit or else!”

She paused, and turned to the now-wide-awake-and-panicked-looking passengers. “Actually, come to think of it, you might all wanna get off first. Okay, stop the bus, let all these people off, and then drive us through the creepy negawhatsit!”

Kigaan had had enough. She didn’t have any more stops to make, so it wasn’t like she had any reason to hold back. Ripping out of her human skin, she ignored the wild swerving of the bus as she half-stood, giving the impudent, clamouring worms a long and intimidating look at her terrifying glory.

“Brat!” she roared through a fang-lined maw set in a parched and shrivelled face. “You’ll cower before me! I am Kigaan of the Dark Kingdom, villien of the Fourth Duchy, servant of Duc Jadeite!” She felt herself swell as she declared her Name to the world; her claws lengthening, her muscles bulking out. The rush from invoking her own soul was intoxicating for all that it was brief – and how much better would it be when she held _real_ rank; _real_ power! “I am a youma, mortal. Kneel– because I fear nothing like you.”

In answer, the girl smiled grimly and reached into her pocket, coming out with a broach that stank of painful purity. “Yes,” she said, “You do. Moon Power Makeup!”

It was like Kigaan’s worst nightmares had come to life. The light scorched her eyes. She shrunk back in her seat, curling up in a ball to try to shield as much of her flesh as she could from the white agony in front of her. Something thumped overhead and slithered down the side of the bus. A moment’s hope that it might have been some reptilian sister-kin come to help against such a menace was shattered, though, when the Mercury peeled back the door with a single hand. Her presence only intensified the pain Kigaan was in. 

She desperately pushed down even harder on the accelerator, and realised that not only was it not working, but the bus had come to a stop. At some point the bus engine had died and the brake pedal was depressed, even though her foot wasn’t touching it.

“Now,” said _Moon_ ; the Moon-Senshi, the one who’d thwarted the Duc, the one everyone was so terrified of. She levelled a sceptre so powerful that it seemed to pulse with a teeth-aching purity at Kigaan’s head, and the youma whimpered pitifully. “Let these people off,” said Moon. “Then Mercury will let your bus work again. And then you’re going to drive us through the negawhatsit. You’re going to do that, or you’re gonna eat a Moon Rod to the face. Okay?”

… 

The last of the passengers stumbled off the bus, all but throwing themselves out of the doors. None of them seemed terribly inclined to wait for the next one, which wasn’t really surprising given what they’d just seen of their driver. The figure watching from atop a lamppost wove a quiet blessing over them as they started the long walk home. It would keep them safe – at least for the rest of the night.

Then, as the last of them departed, Moonshadow dropped to the ground with a flutter of their cloak and watched the bus peel away along the road. Barely had it gone a hundred metres before a swirling black vortex opened up and swallowed it, before coiling up into nothingness again.

Arrow nocked and senses primed, the slender, cloaked figure approached the empty spot. A quick check revealed nothing left behind – no oil, no tire tracks… and no spells of return or safe passage.

A more in-depth look came up equally empty. Moonshadow sighed.

“You didn’t even think about how you’d get back, did you?” they muttered, shaking their helmeted head in disgust. “Stupid. I can’t believe you’re…no. No. Don’t let it get to you. They’re just young.” They paused. “Young and very stupid.”

Slipping the arrow off the string, Moonshadow plunged it into the tarmac, where it dissolved into white motes of light. A silver-glowing stem forced its way through the hole; white petals already forming around a swelling bud.

By the time the lily had opened, Moonshadow was gone.

…


	19. A World Ablaze! The Fiery Sailor Mars is Found!

“Take. My. Hand.”

The self-proclaimed god leaned in further. Through a head that felt like it was packed with cotton wool, Rei tried to remember what she should be doing. She wasn’t sure. She felt like a plant pulled out from the earth, without a solid place to anchor herself.

He wanted something from her. He wanted to make her one of his priestesses, this man with the faint scent of rusted iron and just a hint of rot. Stagnant water; that was what the smell was. The air smelled like a stream that had been blocked up by junk. A breeding ground for mosquitos and leeches and other disgusting things that fed on blood.

“… no.”

The decision rose out of her gut, rather than her brain. Her mind was busy coming up with reasons why she should accept his – kind, generous, clearly-righteous and coming with a pretty dress – offer. But her heart and her gut were more wary. The stifling heat; the hazy outline of a box around her; the sweat trickling down her forehead. Wrong. 

And with her stomach screaming warnings, her sluggish brain was finally remembering things her grandfather had taught her about impurity. She was a Shinto shrine maiden; she _knew_ that stagnant water and blood were impure – and yet she was barely able to make the connection. No good kami would associate with such things – but there were certainly malicious spirits who might try to trick her. Her nose was trying to warn her.

This was a trap.

Pulling her hands back from where they’d stretched halfway out unthinkingly, Rei crossed them over her chest and shook her head. “No,” she repeated; stronger and more confident. Now that she’d voiced it once, it was easier to be sure. The word burned away some of the cotton wool from her brain. “I won’t.”

And as her courage flared for a moment, she dared to knock his hand aside.

The man – the spirit – snarled. He moved, and she flinched, a sudden sick terror bringing back a jolt of agonising pain in her arm. For a moment she remembered – she _remembered_ , and braced herself for another bone-breaking blow, but instead...

… instead his hand met her forehead as a bright wheel spun into existence behind him, and he opened his mouth to sing-

…

It was dark.

It was dark, except it wasn’t dark. Darkness was the absence of light. This was a place where light didn’t even make sense anymore. It wasn’t cold or warm or hot. Nothing but the passage of time – and there her head spun, because it felt like she was falling, each second stretched out and yet rushing by.

No sight. No sound. No smell. No touch. Not even the sensation of where her arms and legs were. She couldn’t feel the…

…

… what had she been feeling?

There had been something. Had it been wind? Water? There had been…

It was dark.

She couldn’t feel her arm anymore. It should hurt. It had hurt. She couldn’t quite bring to mind what the hurting had felt like.

She couldn’t feel anything else, either. She couldn’t move, because she couldn’t feel anything _to_ move.

There was no up, no down. No smell of iron. No sound. No sense of herself. She knew these things existed, but she couldn’t reach them. Something was stopping her. She couldn’t remember…

It was dark.

What had light been like? She tried to bring it to mind, but the amorphous nothing stopped her again. She tried to struggle against it, but there was nothing to struggle with, or for.

She couldn’t even bring to mind what she was trying to reach.

Who was she, anyway?

Maybe it was then she started screaming.

She had no way of knowing.

…

Apparently, there were some complicated delicate parts of a bus that didn’t appreciate being frozen solid, thawed out again, subjected to a surge of power from three nearby magical transformations and then driven at high speed through a hell portal.

One such part turned out to be the brakes.

Moon pulled herself out of the wreckage, groaning quietly. Mercury was lying halfway through the windscreen with her hands over her ears.

“Is it over?” she mumbled. “Did we stop?”

Moon surveyed the front of the bus, which was wrapped around a tree. One of the front wheels had come off and was peacefully wobbling along a few metres away; the hubcap lying where it had fallen.

“Yes,” she concluded. “But if there are spirit traffic cops, we’re going to be in so much trouble.” She looked around, furrowing her brow. “Also you should probably look at this,” she added. “Because, uh…”

Mercury pried herself the rest of the way through the windscreen and pulled herself upright. Brushing the bits of glass off her blue skirt, she looked around and drew in a sharp, shocked breath.

“… yes,” she agreed. “Yes, this is… not what I was expecting.”

They stood at the crest of a hill, beyond which a peaceful landscape lay under a setting sun. The grass was long and untended; the pleasant sort of wildness to it that spoke of the absence of pollutants or efforts to tame the land. The hillside ran down to the shoreline of a glittering ocean; stone pavilions dotted here and there among the reddish-green fields, with stone pathways connecting them that seemed to somehow hover just above the grass.

Moon frowned and looked down, stamping experimentally on the ground a few times. “Are we in the wrong place? Oh! Is this where Luna goes, maybe? Because… I dunno, we were on the bus, and so it went to the wrong spirit-place? Or the right spirit-place. The _good_ spirit-place, instead of the evil one the youma was trying to get to.” She swung the Moon Rod for good measure, clipping the tops of the nearby stalks.

With a foul hiss, they dissolved into dark smoke, leaving patches of damp black stone where they’d been rooted. After a moment, the rich reddish-brown soil seemed to flow back over and cover it again.

“… oooor maybe not,” Moon finished dejectedly. “Pity. I was looking forward to surprising Luna at work. Okay, so it’s an evil illusiony thing that’s faking stuff! Mercury! Do your thing!”

Mercury was already scanning and nodding. “It’s a false Name,” she confirmed. “Like the Disguise Pen, but on a massive scale. It’s more than an illusion, too – I think this place is bigger than whatever’s under it. It’s like… like an actual physical change, but only paper-thin. Like how you’re older and taller when you’re disguised – it’s more than just an image.” She frowned. “Which makes sense, I guess. If it were just an image, I think it would be a Shadow thing, or… or maybe you’d have to—”

“This is really interesting and all, Mercury,” Moon interrupted in a voice that didn’t sound very interested, “but maybe after we rescue everyone?” She waved a hand at the sweeping expanse of the hillside. “Which we can’t do until we know where they are.”

“Right. Sorry. Um, so yes, I’m picking up some strange readings from… that way.”

“Okay, let’s go! Oh, and you!” Moon turned back and hauled the youma out from where it was cradled in the wreckage of the bus. The creature was bleeding from the nose, had a bruise on her forehead from the crash, and looked concussed. “Hands up! You’re coming with us as a hostage,” she said, pointing the Moon Rod at her.

...

It was dark.

The nameless girl screamed inside her head. That was all she could do. Perhaps she was screaming out loud as well, but in her senseless world she couldn’t tell. Nothing was there outside her self, and there wasn’t much of her in there. Just enough to feel the rushing of time, but not enough to count seconds and hours.

She tried to thrash limbs she didn’t have, trying to break out from a prison that didn’t exist. There wasn’t even a wall to punch. She’d have welcomed the pain. At least that would have told her that something else existed.

It was dark.

She wasn’t going to plead. She wasn’t sure why she wasn’t going to plead, but she had a reason. She had to have a reason. Because if she didn’t have a reason, then she’d have been pleading and begging for this to stop, and then it might have ended. But since it hadn’t stopped, she must not have asked it to end. She couldn’t remember why, but it must have been a good reason.

It was all that she could cling to. There had to be some purpose for not giving in, so she wasn’t going to do that.

She racked her incomplete, patchwork memories trying to think of anything other than this place. Where did she live? What did she like to eat? What did she enjoy?

Red sand. Fire. Rituals. Aching in her joints. A fresh scent in the air. Memories flickering before her eyes, before the blackness consumed them all.

But they left something behind. An ember in her chest. A warmth that whispered that there was another way.

It was dark. And she remembered her name.

Deep in the heart of the darkness, Rei Hino closed eyes she couldn’t feel and listened to the sucking void.

There was sound that wasn’t sound. A song that wasn’t a song. Inside-out syllables echoed in her mind without passing by way of her ears, and they were Wrong. They were names. Words turned against themselves so that she couldn’t think of the things they were opposing. She didn’t know how she knew, but the knowledge was the only solid thing in her world, and she clung to it. Something was doing this to her, and it could be undone. If she knew how.

And she was angry. She remembered nearly dying, how the youma and those filthy little monsters had nearly drained her dry. She hated them. She hated them more than she’d hated anything before. That burning rage was something she could use. She remembered seeing one youma going up in flames like a torch just from one improvised ofuda, and it was a _good_ memory.

Rei couldn’t feel her throat, or hear the sounds she was sure she must be making. But nevertheless, she forced herself to imagine lungs she couldn’t sense and focused everything she could on singing. Just a note, she thought. It didn’t have to be a good note. She didn’t have to hear it. It just had to be a note that was the right way around, to stop one of the empty chords she was caught inside. She’d been singing and chanting since she was a little girl. It didn’t matter that she couldn’t feel her breathing. It didn’t matter that her throat was gone. It didn’t matter that she couldn’t remember what sound sounded like. Her body _was_ still somewhere, and _it_ would remember. She’d worked too hard for it not to.

Sing, she thought. Sing. Even if you can’t feel yourself singing, _sing!_

Something faltered in the nothingness. An un-sound wavered and vanished.

_She could feel._

For the first couple of seconds, the bliss of _any_ sensation was so great that she didn’t care what it was. Then her sense-starved brain parsed the information it was getting, and her teeth came together in a silent scream. She _hurt_. Her legs and back were bruised and aching; ground against hard, cold stone for who-knew-how-long. Her head throbbed where it had smacked against a solid surface. She was cold; so cold she couldn’t even shiver. Her arm felt like the bone had been replaced by red-hot iron. 

Her lungs burned. She was running out of air.

She focused on another anti-song and shifted her note; adding another to turn it into a simple chant. It was easier now. She could feel what she was doing; the muscles in her throat and chest. It took effort to match and cancel the new anti-song, but she found the right place before her lungs gave out.

Sound rushed in. Her voice! That was her voice! Strained and pained and pitted with effort, but with something deep and resonant in it. Something that went beyond mere sound.

A few seconds of air left. Rei bore down on the simple chant, learning it, clinging to it, imprinting it on her voicebox. She’d have to be quick…

She broke, gasping for as much breath as she could get in a single gulp. Nothingness rushed in. She sang.

It stopped.

A third song. One more. With sight and hearing and touch, she could get herself out of this place and… and do something. She just needed to match one more empty chord. A three-point chant was something she could do.

There was something strange going on, though. As she struggled to maintain her two warding notes while finding a third, pulling herself to her feet and mapping out the tiny stone cell she was in with her hands – barely big enough to stand up in; a tiny box that was closer to an upright coffin than anything – the stone beneath her questing fingers shifted. Gave way. Dissolved. A hissing wail joined her raw-throated chant, and the cold air became colder still. It tasted tingly on her tongue, like fizzy drinks or sour air.

When had she got taste back? Had she matched the wrong nothing-sound? She started on a fourth. It was getting easier now. Her lungs weren’t burning with effort as much. She still hurt, but it wasn’t slowing her down like it should. She could hear shouting outside the cell. The guttural voices of monsters. They sounded frightened. They sounded… tasty.

And the thing dissolving under her fingers felt very much like the latch of a door.

…

The blast echoed out over the rolling grasslands. Moon and Mercury jumped, and the youma groaned as the Moon Rod came too close to it. A ball of fire rose up through the roof one of the buildings down the slope.

“What was that?” Mercury asked, one hand going to her visor.

“I dunno,” Moon said, waving the rod threateningly in the youma’s direction in case it thought it could try any funny games. “But I think we should check it out. And hope it’s not some evil weapon or something.”

As they approached the burning structure, they could hear a mix of sounds – shrieks, screams and for some reason singing. As they got closer, it became clear why.

The grass around one of the stone structures was burning fiercely, throwing off more of that thick black smoke in such quantities that it hid the actual flames. A circle of men and women stood around it, chanting some sort of spell that wasn’t doing very well at pushing the fire back or putting it out.

“Youma,” Moon hissed. “Those people. They look like the Jadeite in my vision did; those facial tattoos and clothes. He must be… there he is!”

She pointed, gasped and paled. A billow of the smoke had shifted, revealing a man standing above the chanting youma on one of the floating stone paths. It was the blond American man from the shrine, clad in black armour, and he was chanting too.

He wasn’t chanting at the fire.

Whatever he was doing, it wasn’t something human tongues were meant to do. Moon could tell; partly from the way her ears flatly refused to hear the sounds he was making and partly from the sickening sense of _Wrong_ and _Sick_ and _Bad_ that accompanied every awful syllable, but mostly from the trickle of blood oozing from the side of his mouth. His lips were raw and skinless.

“His tongue,” Mercury whispered, adjusting her visor. “What kind of magic is that? It’s tearing up his mouth and his tongue… it’s like someone’s scraped it with a cheese grater. Uh, Moon, I don’t think…”

Mercury grabbed Moon’s arm to pull them back, but too late. His eyes slanted their way, and though his chanting didn’t stop, his face twisted in pain and hate.

“Move!” screamed Moon, and tackled her friend to the ground as a barely-visible _something_ shot towards them. It missed Mercury and came within a handspan of Moon’s back as it passed, raising every hackle up her spine and sending her into a fit of gagging.

Their captive youma was not so lucky. The hate-curse struck it full in the chest, and it barely managed a scream. Its chest imploded like a crushed soda can, and the body fell to the ground. After a moment of horrible contortion, it started disintegrating into grey dust.

Mercury, who’d had a perfect view of the entire thing, rolled onto her stomach and joined Moon in dry-heaving. “That… that nearly hit you and…”

“Come on,” Moon forced out, pulling herself upright and tugging Mercury up with her. “We need... we need to move. Come on... oh, that poor youma... we can’t let him see us again.”

They ran, circling the conflagration to keep the smoke between themselves and Jadeite. Edging closer, they could see that the fires were spreading ever-more-fiercely, pressing towards the chanting disguised youma with almost hungry intent. The air smelt like burning tires. Another billow of smoke parted to give them a split-second glimpse at Jadeite. He looked drawn and pale; exhausted from the curse he’d sent at them. The blood was spilling from his mouth now, covering the front of his breastplate.

A new sound broke through the noise as they reached the edge of the circle. A single, clear note that started high and somehow built. It multiplied and split until it was a mighty chord from a single voice, wavering and shifting and searching for the right combination of sounds.

When it found it, it did so like a chisel finding a faultline, and the singer drove it home with a sledgehammer.

The lie behind the landscape shattered like glass. The glittering ocean, the waves of reddish-green grass, the stone pavilions and the false forms covering the youma... all of it broke apart in a wash of colour and confusion and chaos.

What was left after it drained away was dark and cold and claustrophobic, despite the high ceiling and wide-spread walls. Moon and Mercury stood in an underground river cave, dozens of metres across. Once it must have been beautiful, but no longer. The white rock was covered in mould and decay and greyish-black mineral growths. Rotting canvas concealed the ceiling, dripping filthy water. The river that once crossed the cave was dry, with sludge filling the bottom of its bed, and it led into a sheer wall that was oozing a slow flow of slush through the marred but still solid stone. Crude cells had been cut into the walls here and there, covered over by bars. In them, humans of all ages sat slumped or lay prone; their skin sallow and their breathing light.

Except, of course, for the one that was on fire.

The sudden transition from lie to truth took the youma clustered around it completely by surprise. They were sent flying, like child’s toys tossed aside by a giant to scatter against the floor and walls. The first to rise was Jadeite, and he did not look happy. Nor did he look well. Whatever he’d been trying to do, it had obviously gone badly wrong when the lie broke. Moon couldn’t actually see the state of his mouth beneath all the blood, but thick drops fell to the ground to form a growing pool at his feet. His eyes were wild with rage and hate and agony, but Moon could see a shred of cautious sanity in them as they flickered from the flames to the girls. He might be able to handle one of them, but both...

“Moon...” Mercury said in a rising tone of worry. “I don’t like what I’m seeing here. What do we do?”

“Well, things are on fire,” Moon said, “and it was someone singing that broke the lie, so I’m pretty sure Rei is... rescuing... her...”

She trailed off in horror as something stepped through the flames. Despite its humanoid form; it was clear it wasn’t natural. Its skin was charcoal-black, its eyes were red flame, and around it the stone hissed and dissolved into dust too fine to see. Flames draped its form like a mantle, and rose from its head in two delicate candleflame-horns. For a moment, she thought it was a youma.

Except that the curious tilt of its head as it looked from them to Jadeite and the fallen youma was one she knew.

“... self.” she finished in a whisper. “Oh no.”

“Kill it!” Jadeite croaked, his voice raw and not very pretty. With a wave of his hands, his youma were pulled upright like puppets. “A title to the one who kills that thing – and those two girls.”

“Uh oh,” Mercury muttered, balling her hands into fists. “Moon, what do we—”

But the fire-thing – could it really be Rei? – was already moving. Its hands were as frightening as the rest of it; long black talons with burning nails, and it tore through the first two youma in its way. Dust splattered around it, even as it leapt over a massively extended arm and clung to the high ceiling, arms and legs twisting to angles that a human couldn’t.

Before the lesser youma had finished aiming at its new position, it dropped. It landed on a reptilian youma, flattening it under foot, and grabbed the arm of a red skinned demon halfway through swinging a cleaver. For a moment it held its new victim there, as the cleaver dissolved into powder.

Then the Rei-thing opened its mouth and exhaled a wave of fire into its captive’s face. The youma flailed for a second before collapsing into dust, and the jet of fire intensified, narrowing into a bright white beam which cut through the remaining youma like wheat. Where the blinding jet touched the stone floor, it scored glowing orange lines along the ground.

But such power clearly came at a cost. The beam petered out and the burning creature collapsed, sagging to all fours and breathing heavily. Jadeite, who had leaped over the cutting fire jet, took the chance to strike. Light-footed, he almost-danced along the wall. His feet made no sound. In a graceful, swan-like dive he dropped on the panting creature, blade drawn for a falling attack.

It didn’t go as planned. The Rei-thing’s weakness had been pretence, and its crouch had left its body coiled up like a spring. Its jump met Jadeite’s fall, and the two of them slammed into the wall with bruising force. Somehow he curled his body up even before the impact and kicked the burning creature in the chest, forcing it to the ground and moving in for the kill.

The Rei-thing dodged his attack and lunged. He blocked its first swipe with his scabbard, which shattered, parried the second with a ringing shriek of metal and flame, and brought the blade down on its shoulder with a whirling overhead cut.

“No!” screamed Moon, lunging forward as...

... as the sword broke.

Jadeite leapt back again, glaring at his broken weapon in surprise and disgust. The snapped-off blade was pitted and eroded around the break, as well as a little higher up the blade where it had parried the second swipe of those burning claws. It was also melting slightly, prompting Moon to take a few cautious steps back.

”That fire isn’t normal,” Mercury hissed to her. “It’s not burning the metal, it’s... I can’t tell, it’s like it’s _eating_ it. The stone, too. Everything around her.”

The Rei-thing lunged at Jadeite again, but this time he simply leapt away, spitting a curse in its face. As the creature clawed at its burning eyes, he glanced from it to the Senshi and back again with a sneer. Then he turned before it could try for a third clash and leapt into the shadows of an unoccupied cell. He sunk into the darkness like it was tar, and was gone.

Moon couldn’t help but feel a hint of vindictive past-life-ish glee at seeing Jadeite run away.

...

Deprived of its target, the fiery monster screamed in rage and turned on Moon and Mercury. And more screams rose up with it. Screams of panic. Screams of fear. Screams of weak, bewildered people trapped in iron cages, who could feel the heat pressing in on them and smell the smoke in the air as the fires spread.

Hissing through its teeth as the flames crept out from its footprints, the thing that Rei had become flexed its claws and advanced.

“Rei,” said Moon, backing away as the creature stalked closer. “Rei. Rei, please, listen.”

“Okay, what do we do?” Mercury asked, following suit. “She’s... she’s possessed or something, right? So how do we get whatever’s in her out? Is there a spell for it? Should I try to put the fires out?”

Moon shook her head helplessly, reaching out towards the Rei-monster. It snarled and lunged, prompting a shriek and a stumbling retreat. The lines of flame crawling out from the footprints eroded into the stone floor surged and its hair ignited, haloing its face in crackling reddish light.

“... I’ll deal with the fires,” Mercury said. “Unless that would hurt her? It probably won’t hurt her, right?” Moon shrugged, and Mercury darted away towards the wall that was seeping water. “You keep her distracted and I’ll deal with the prisoners and the fire!” she called, pulling the droplets bleeding from the stone to her in a ball and moving to the first cell. She didn’t have much, but there was enough to form a shallow puddle under the occupant’s feet and another outside the cell. The man was out in short order, and she moved onto the next.

Eying the spiderweb of fire that was spreading around the Rei-creature, Moon set her jaw. She couldn’t let that hurt any of the people in the cells. And that meant she had to stop this now, even if Rei would probably be headachey and annoyed and super-mean to her for the next week or two.

“Okay, Rei,” she muttered, summoning the Moon Rod to her hand and winding up. “This is going to feel bad, but you’re all possessed and evil, so I have to purify you.”

A thought occurred to her. Rei probably wouldn’t remember this in detail when she woke up. And she really did need purifying. Which meant that it was the perfect time to work off some lingering frustration for Rei’s meanness!

With a much more positive air; Sailor Moon let fly.

“Moon Healing Escalation!”

The flash of white light was painfully bright in the dark and dreary cave. It bleached the rotted stone where it touched, seared away the greyish growths and banished the foul-smelling dankness. It must have hurt, too, because the Rei-creature reared back and fell with a scream. The disintegration of the stone around her feet stopped, and her fires flickered and dimmed.

Then, with a roar of displaced air, they surged hotter and fiercer than ever.

“Moon!”

A thin shield of water interposed itself between Moon and the explosion; catching the wall of boiling air that left the ground glowing red-hot. A glance showed Mercury leaning heavily against a wall, her eyes closed as she pulled what meagre water she could from the surroundings to block off the tendrils of fire snaking their way across the cavern. The wall at the end of the dry riverbed was still seeping water; the droplets drawn to Mercury’s hands as soon as they left the stone.

But despite her slowly increasing supply, Mercury was fighting a losing battle against the fire. With a dull _woomph_ , the rotting canvas up above caught light. Whatever liquid it was soaked in was clearly flammable, because half the ceiling was ablaze within seconds. The reddish-orange light cast the cavern in new colours; hot and harsh and hellish.

This was not working, Moon decided. She needed a new approach. Quickly. Before anything else caught on fire. So, step one was to get Rei away from the innocent people. She picked out the safest direction and backed up, getting a suitable run-up.

The monster howled at her. At least she had her attention.

She broke into a run. “Moon Flying Kick!” she yelled. Her foot slammed into the creature’s chest and sent it flying. It slammed into the rear wall, far away from any of the jail cells, and sunk into the stone. Moon landed gracefully, and then had to stamp out the flames trying to eat her boot. “Owie, owie, owie!”

The Rei-creature peeled itself out of the wall, leaving a stone snow angel behind, and shook her head, trying to shake off dizziness.

“Ha!” Moon shouted. “That’s not going to work on me! I saw that before!” She levelled the Moon Rod at her. “Moon Get Less Angry Beam!” she said, focusing on calmness and happiness and fluffy bunnies.

A soft cone of white light enveloped the Rei-thing, and she paused. Her arms went limp, and her shoulders relaxed. Moon advanced, keeping the just-invented spell on target. “Rei,” she called out. “I know you’re in there! You don’t need to be angry! You don’t need to be scared! Just think of nice happy things and- ack!”

Nice happy things apparently involved pouncing on Moon. She shrieked and tried to jump away, but the creature was too fast. She grabbed Moon’s ankle and twirled her around, throwing her at the same wall she’d just climbed out of. Moon hit the stone about half-way up, face first. She slowly slid down the surface, making a faint squeaking noise of pain.

So apparently she couldn’t just invent spells to do things on the spot, beyond the general purifying light that she could control like Mercury could do to water. That... that would have been good to know earlier.

“All right!” she declared, pulling herself to her feet. “That was really- gah!” She didn’t get a chance to finish, as she was busy running from the rapidly pursuing monster. Legpower honed by many a terrified dash to get to school on time was her ally as she raced to outpace the horned flame beast and think of a plan.

There wasn’t going to be any help from Sailor Mercury. The flames were rising higher, and approaching the poor people trapped in the cells. No, Moon was going to have to resolve this herself. Before the creature lost its temper and just breathed fire on her or something.

Actually, why hadn’t it done that?

Come to think of it – she thought; legs pounding, arms pumping –it had also just thrown her at the wall rather than claw her up or bite her. The Rei-beast hadn’t hesitated to slash up Jadeite or the youma. 

So that probably meant Rei was somewhere in there. A Rei who was probably hurting and upset and who even knew what the baddies had done to her?! This thing, this monster, was hurt and scared and lashing out at everything around it, but it wasn’t human. It couldn’t be calmed down like a human could.

... so maybe, Moon though, the trick was to make it angry like a human, instead of angry like a monster. Whirling on the spot, she grasped the Moon Rod with both hands and held it with the general attitude of a baseball player. 

The flaming monster tried to pounce again, and this time met a holy princess wand to the face. The sacred artefact made a heavy thump as it hit the creature around the chest and sent it skidding backwards on its back.

“Moon Rod Cleansing Blow!” Moon tried, in the hope that trying a spell through the Moon Rod might work. All it did was ignite a corona of white light around the sceptre. “Oh, right, probably should have done that first! Good to know!”

Haloed in flame, the Rei-creature stood back up; incandescent eyes sweeping over the cavern. A hundred metallic growths burst into flame under its gaze; drawing a scream from Mercury, and with a snarl it advanced on the blue-haired-

“I lied about going to help Ami when she felt sick! I dragged her back to the shrine to make excuses so you wouldn’t kill me!”

The monster paused. Scowled.

Turned.

Moon had her hands raised placatingly again, but looked a lot less scared this time.

“I was ten minutes late on purpose that Saturday morning it was raining!” she shouted. “I stopped to get a hot drink on the way!”

Snarling, the burning figure began stalking towards her.

“I...” Moon stuttered, backing away again to give herself more time. Hopefully this wasn’t a super bad idea, because… well, it better not be! “That time you thought I was pulling faces at you behind your back but couldn't prove it! You were right! I was! I’m the one who keeps leaving your manga open so the spines get all creased! I actually think the miko robes look a bit silly! Your grandpa is kind of funny when he’s flirting with people who come to the shrine! I’m a superhero in my spare time and didn’t tell you even after it got in the way of my job twice! I know you’re hurt and frightened right now, Rei, but if you're gonna get mad and attack me, get mad and attack me as _you_ , not a scary fire monster, and especially don’t attack anyone else because you’d feel really bad afterward and I-”

A charcoal-black fist with burning claws descended.

“Ow!”

“Idiot!”

“Rei!” Moon looked up in cautious hope, delighted despite the throbbing bump on her head where Rei had hit her. “Are you... you again? Oh! Your forehead!”

Rei’s skin was still charred black, though the surface was flaking off to reveal pale, sunburnt skin beneath. The fiery talons reverted back to soot-stained fingernails as Moon watched, and the only sign that her hair had ever been a stream of fire was a faint ember-like glow amidst the strands. She was barefoot, her clothes long since incinerated, but the flames that still covered her had formed a crude approximation of the suit that Moon herself wore.

And on her forehead; writ in bright lines of flame, was the symbol of Mars.

With a final groan of protest; the filthy, burning cloth strung up across the ceiling fell, exposing a perfectly circular hole in the cave’s top. A shaft of moonlight shone through, haloing Moon and Rei together.

Rei exhaled and inhaled rhythmically. Moon recognised the kind of slow controlled meditation pattern that she’d seen the other girl use when trying to calm down. “It’s… it’s difficult,” she said, voice taut. She opened her eyes, irises glowing faintly. “It’s like balancing on a wire. Don’t ask me to fight anything.”

She met the Senshi’s gaze and nodded firmly.

“But I can hang on long enough to get out of here. What’s the plan?”

...

Smoke and mist fought each other in the hall. The air was sizzling as droplets of water hit the crackling flames.

“We need to get out of here,” Moon said, looking around. Things didn’t look good. Much of the cavern was on fire, and there were still dozens of people trapped in their cells. The heat was becoming stifling as the flames spread, turning the cave into a hellishly-lit oven. The smoke was acrid and metallic, and poured up through the hole in the roof in great black gouts. Moon wondered if that was going out into the real world somewhere. Could that be a way out?

“We need to get everyone out of their cells and then get them back to Tokyo!” she repeated, raising her voice over the roar of the fires. “Which way is out?”

“How am I supposed...” Rei began, and took a deep breath. “I woke up here,” she said, with forced calmness. “Don’t you have a plan?”

“We didn’t have time for a plan! We were coming to rescue you!”

“What kind of rescue doesn’t have a plan to get back?” Sweat rolled down Rei’s soot-blackened brow. “This. This is not easy.”

“Girls!”

Toe-to-toe and glaring, Moon and Rei snapped around to face Mercury. She was crouching, with one arm over her mouth to keep the smoke out. “We don’t have time to argue!” she said fiercely. “Moon, you’ve been doing this longer than I have. How do you usually leave places like this?”

“Why do people keep thinking I know all this stuff?” Moon complained. “I don’t! We only got in here by... the buses!” She pointed triumphantly at the wreck of the bus, lodged in the empty riverbed on the far side from the water-wall. “It came through there! Which means that must be the way out!”

She reached up and grimly took off her tiara with the air of a gunslinger unholstering his pistols. “Okay, Mercury. You get firefighting duty. Rei, you... huh.” She paused. “I can call you Rei. That’s... weird.”

“Why?”

Hesitating, Moon shook her head. “No time. Tell you later. Rei, you’re better with spirit stuff than I am. Go see if you can figure out a way to get through the wall doing… I dunno, shrine maiden things or something. I’ll get the hostages out.”

With a chorus of nods, they split three ways. Moon left her friends to their jobs and ran to the approximate centre of the cavern, eyeing the cells. There were a lot of cells... but she was getting pretty good with her aim, and she knew her tiara could cut through worse than iron bars.

“Moon Tiara...” she called, lining up the shot in her head. The cells were mostly quite close together, so if she focused really hard she could just try to send it through the rock between the bars as well and do each batch in one or two really long cuts. “Action!”

The glowing ring lashed out. It swung around, scored along the nearest wall and cut a perfectly straight line through ten metres of stone and cell bar before circling back to Moon’s hand. Whirling, she poured another burst of determination to free these people into it and let fly with another shot. “Action!”

The first arc had gone high. This one went low. Dozens of metal bars clattered to the ground with a crash, and the sparkling light left in the tiara’s wake settled on the prisoners behind them. They rose – trembling, weak and scared, but strong enough to stand – and pulled themselves from the cramped and suffocating cells.

Moon would have cried with joy at the tears of relief and hope on their faces, if she weren’t already lining up on the next set of crudely-set bars. She wasn’t sure how long some of them must have been here. She should have found them earlier. She should have. Nevertheless, her heart swelled to see them, and the glow of her tiara was a little bit brighter as it span out a third time.

“ _Action!_ ”

It took twelve more throws to get everybody out – a ragtag bunch of emaciated, pale-faced captives who clustered around Moon, behind Mercury’s meagre bastions of vapour. She had resorted to casting her fog spell, blanketing the cavern in mist which burnt off in seconds but checked the fires’ growth. Despite the hole in the roof, the smoke was starting to fill the air, and most of the prisoners were coughing on their hands and knees. Moon’s own eyes were watering and she could feel the acrid, painful burn of smoke inhalation in her throat. She forced it down.

“Rei! We really need that way out!”

Rei answered with a wordless sound of frustration. “I can’t!” she snapped, the embers in her hair glowing brighter. “I don’t know how! There’s nothing here; it’s just a wall!”

Drat. Drat drat drat. “Rei. Calm. Calm. Uh… Mercury! Can you-”

“Not enough water! And even if there was, this place isn’t connected to the rest! I can only move point-to-point inside the cavern!”

Drat! Moon scanned the cave desperately, hoping for something to jump out at her. It was a full-blown wildfire now, completely out of Rei’s control. It wasn’t just the grey growths or the rotted canvas that was burning – it was the stone itself; the floor, the walls. Moon could see carvings under the tongues of flame, revealed as the detritus of the youma burnt off. Symbols of rivers, of ships, of the moon. Had this been a moon-place before the youma had inhabited it for however long they’d been here?

Maybe... maybe if she reached deep into her power again...

And then a horn sounded. Not a magical trumpet horn, but a tinny, artificial sound, accompanied by a sucking sensation from behind her. Spinning around, she just about managed to dive out of the way in time for a bus to come spinning through the black portal that had opened up on the wall, missing her and the freed prisoners by scant metres. Gripping the Moon Rod firmly, she advanced on the door...

... and found not a youma, but a familiar silver half-mask.

“Sailor Moon!” the handsome top-hatted stranger announced. “When a young lady goes out with friends, it’s always important to think about her arrangements for getting back home. Fortunately, I, Tuxedo Mask, know the value of a good public transport system!”

Moon could have cried for joy. “Tuxedo Mask!” she gasped, and lunged in for a hug. He slid out of the way, but she was happy enough to see him that she barely minded. “We need to get these people out! Help get them onto the bus – can you get back?”

The flickering glow glinted off his mask as he nodded. “An acquaintance made sure I knew where to come back to,” he said. “But we must hurry, Sailor Moon. This fire is beyond the point of control.”

“It’s the spiritual pollution,” Rei said through gritted teeth from where she was trying to force the flames back. Apparently, she’d figured out the same trick Mercury used to manipulate water. She was doing well at keeping it back, but there was simply too much to bend to her will – especially when she was trying to control her own half-transformed state. “The fire is burning up the corruption, and the evil spirits have been here ages! This whole place might as well be soaked in oil!”

“Okay, in in in! Everyone onto the buses!” Moon windmilled her arms frantically, urging everyone through the narrow doors and casting frantic looks around the cavern. The far wall had finally caught fire; as much steam pouring off it as smoke, and she didn’t like any of the things that could mean. “Sit on someone’s lap if you can’t find a seat, bunch up in the aisles, hold onto something, hold onto each other...”

She leapt up onto the top of the bus as Mercury cast three quick bursts of mist that the fire ate almost instantly. Looking around for anyone still trapped in the choking, hellish landscape of fire and smoke and baking heat, she found none. “Right, go! Go go go go go! Get us the heck out of here! Now!”

At the wheel, Tuxedo Mask gunned the engine and raised his cane. The black portal on the wall behind them sucked itself open, and Mercury and Rei leapt up beside her as they reversed through it.

There was a long, nauseous moment of darkness.

And then, with a crash, they were home.

...

“You know, that’s two buses we totalled in one day. And one of them got incinerated in an evil monster hideout. I hope the bus people don’t get mad at me for this.”

“Mmm,” groaned Rei. She was flagging; slung between Usagi and Ami’s shoulders and barely lifting her feet from step to step. The burning symbol of Mars on her forehead had died down to barely-shining embers, and the soot layer had flaked off her skin in places, leaving her a strange mishmash of pale and charcoal-black. The fire pretending to be a Senshi outfit had vanished, but fortunately there had been a blanket on the bus for them to wrap her in for the sake of decency.

Her arm wasn’t broken anymore, at least. Usagi had made sure of _that_ before transforming back.

“And would it have killed Tuxedo Mask to hang around this time? He never stays! So annoying! Ami, do you think you can freeze his feet to the ground next time he shows up? I want to have a proper talk with him. In fact...”

“Shh,” Rei slurred, swinging her hip into Usagi’s side. “Babbling. Have to focus on. My breathing.”

Usagi took the hint and shut up as they crested the steps. Two black forms swooped down and whirled around them for a moment; drawing a stifled shriek from Ami before vanishing off into the trees.

“... okay,” she muttered. “We have a lot to talk about. But first, sitting down. And food.”

“Food sounds good,” Ami agreed from the other side of Rei. She wasn’t much better off than Rei, with sweat running down her forehead and matting her hair from the exertion of hauling Rei up the steps in the dry heat of the evening. “I don’t know my way around here; can you deal with the food while I get her sat down? And… um, there’s probably flannels or something in the bathroom that I can soak and use that to clean off the soot and maybe cool her down because she has a temperature and-”

Nodding tiredly, Usagi guided them inside, pointed Ami towards Rei’s bedroom, stumbled into the kitchen and surveyed it in search of inspiration.

She considered, for a moment, the intimidatingly clean counters. The many and varied implements of food alchemy. The towering, mountainous heights of the wall-mounted cupboards. The dreaded, fang-lined oven and its fiery breath, which on a hot night like tonight would surely boil an innocent young maiden alive were it to be opened...

“... fruit,” Usagi decided. “I can do fruit.”

With a bowl of fruit and three big mugs of water to battle the heat and dehydration, the world looked a lot less horrible. At ground level, firmly planted in a nice soft cushion, it was almost pleasant. Rei had changed into a t-shirt and shorts and was somewhat cleaner, while Ami was sitting crosslegged at the foot of the bed and tapping away on something Usagi couldn’t quite see.

“Okay,” Rei said, and the weight of exhaustion was obvious in her voice. She spoke slowly, trying to keep up her rhythmic breathing. Nonetheless, she seemed as determined to get to the bottom of things as she’d ever been when demanding answers on why Usagi hadn’t got her chores done on time. “So tell me in detail. _What is going on?_ I remember... the man from this afternoon. He used a woman’s baby to lure me out of the temple, then... knocked me out somehow. He broke my arm. But now it’s not broken.” 

“That was me!” Usagi contributed.

“… thank you. Really. It hurt a lot. And then I was trapped in something horrible. And then I broke out. And then I woke up _burning_.”

She raised a hand, looking at her soot-stained skin, feeling the still-smouldering symbol on her forehead with cautious touches. “I’m _still_ burning. Just more controlled. I can... I can _feel_ it, on my head. What is it?”

‘It is the symbol of Mars.’

“Luna!” Usagi jumped in surprise and joy, then immediately regretted it. Transformed or not, it had been an exhausting day, and dragging Rei up the steps hadn’t helped; even if she’d been in better shape for it than Ami had been. Luna gave her an assessing look from the bedroom door, then stalked in and jumped up onto the bed between Ami and Rei.

“Luna,” Ami sighed. “I’m glad that worked. What can you tell us?”

“Wait, what?” Rei was even more animated now, trading rapid glances between Usagi, Ami and Luna. “The cat just... what?” She narrowed her eyes, staring intently at Luna, and Usagi thought she felt the temperature spike just slightly...

“No no no no no! Rei! Stay calm! It’s safe! She’s a friend! Um... I’m Sailor Moon and she’s the one who gave me my powers and she helps me! She gave Ami her powers too! And... yes, she’s a talking cat. Spirit. Thing.”

This sterling defence won her two sharp glares and an exasperated sigh from Ami.

“I know _that_ , idiot,” Rei shot back at her. “You shouted it in my face back in the cave. And then turned back in front of me; I wasn’t _that_ out of it.” 

“Yes you were,” Usagi contradicted. “You were an on-fire monster.”

“It… it wasn’t a monster thing,” Rei said, hunching her shoulders up. “Not exactly. I… I just was having problems telling you apart from the evil spirits. They were all around me and they were trying to kill me and we’d been betrayed and…” she shuddered, obviously trying to force those thoughts out of mind. “How did she get in here, though? She’s a foreign spirit, she should have trouble coming onto these grounds even if she’s _not_ evil.”

“I called her,” Ami put in, holding up her communicator. “I would have done it before, but we were sort of pressed for time and you had a lead already.”

‘I’m not a _thing_ , thank you very much,’ remarked Luna in a tone of voice that boded badly for Usagi’s next week or two. She turned to Rei. ‘And the two crow-spirits who guard this temple have apparently decided that your safety is of more concern than their dislike of me. Further explanations can wait, though. You’re hanging onto that transformation by your fingernails, and it’s incomplete. Much longer and you’ll lose control again.’ She shook her head. ‘You shouldn’t be trying to assume your mantle without the help of a token for a hundred years, if not more. But I suppose I should expect nothing less of you in particular.’

“Why her in particular?” Ami asked, tilting her head. Blue eyes were locked on Luna.

The cat drew in a breath, and let it out slowly, clearly looking for the right wording. ‘The three of you are each special, in your own way,’ she settled on. ‘You have your own strengths and your own… quirks, perhaps. The Lady of Mars is always,’ she paused, ‘closer to the spirits. She must deal with spiritual matters, and that requires ferocious inner strength. To be able to hold yourself in check while so young and ride the wave of your power with nothing but your own will is a promising sign. But she still needs it – and I beg you not to experiment with this without my guidance. Any of you. Especially you, Usagi.’

Luna curled into a ball and her fur rippled as both Usagi and Ami had seen it do before. For a moment she was a hole in space; a black cat-shape cut out of the universe. Then she was dark fur and crimson eyes again, and a pen was left on the sheets as she stood and backed away.

‘Take it, and say the words that come naturally,’ she told Rei solemnly. ‘The world has great need of you, young Mars.’

Rei looked at her for a long moment. Her eyes slid over to Ami, who gave an encouraging little smile, and Usagi, who threw an enthusiastic thumbs-up.

“And then you’ll explain everything?” she asked.

Luna nodded, and Rei scooped up the pen without further hesitation.

“Mars Planet Power,” The words fell from her lips like sparks from a furnace. “Make-up!”

Senshi transformations were much more impressive when you saw them from the outside and weren’t in the middle of one yourself, Usagi thought. Rei was surrounded in a flare of fire and red light, her tiara forming a seal over the glowing sign on her forehead, and left in her place as it faded was...

... _Mars_.

Usagi winced.

“Owie...” she moaned. “Oh, that was weird. Argh. Ow. My _head_.” She traded a pained glance with Ami, who must have made the same mistake. “I was thinking of you as Rei while I watched, and I still know you’re the same person, but I _felt_ the new Name slot down and... gah, it was like trapping my fingers in a door. My brain-fingers. In a mind-door.”

Mars stared at her. It was a very speaking look, and communicated a solid thesis of ‘what are you talking about’ along with a detailed appendix on ‘you are speaking nonsense’. A few side notes gave a succinct description of the new Senshi’s patience. Or lack thereof.

Usagi took the hint and shut up again.

‘I think,’ said Luna delicately, ‘that Sailor Mars should turn back. And then we should move onto the explanations. From the beginning. In detail.’

It took them a while. The scuffles over who would explain what first ate up five minutes all on their own. But eventually an accord was reached, and the entire sorry story unfolded.

“Okay,” Rei said calmly when they were more or less finished. “So what you’re saying is, you actually _were_ lying after all when you went off to rescue her that time.” She gestured at Ami. “And all the other times, actually! Those lame excuses! You were lying to my face to run off and do this! And! You were Sailor Moon! The whole time! And never told me!”

Usagi cowered, whimpered, and rapidly revised her assessment of Rei’s calmness. She needed a cast-iron, flawless, impenetrable defence to avert Rei’s ire.

“Aahhh! I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry! Luna made me swear not to tell! Please don’t make me sweep the steps again!”

“ _And!_ ” Rei thundered, swinging herself off the bed and almost knocking a vase of flowers off her bedside table as Ami lunged to rescue the fruit bowl from tipping over, “you dropped everything the moment you realised I was in trouble to come _rescue_ me!”

“Yes! I’m sorry! Please no more sweeping! Have mercy!”

Rei’s eyes narrowed, she bore down with widespread arms, and...

“No, please, don't choke me! No strangling!”

A moment passed. Usagi cracked an eye open, confused at the lack of painful asphyxiation and/or death.

“Idiot,” muttered the soft, warm body holding her close. Rei’s hair fell over Usagi’s shoulder, and she could smell wood smoke and a faint flowery perfume she couldn’t place. “This is a hug, you idiot. You _saved_ me, you... you stupid, klutzy, idiotic girl!”

She squeezed tighter for a moment. “Thank you,” she murmured, softer, before releasing her and turning to Ami. “And thank _you_ ,” she added. “I can see why Usagi likes you so much. You’re always welcome here at the shrine from now on; night or day.”

Usagi gasped. “Oh! Oh, that’s a great idea! Ami! You should be a shrine maiden too! Then we could be...” she struck a pose, “Team Miko!”

Flat silence met her idea, along with three unimpressed stares.

“I barely have enough time to fight evil,” Ami said. “I don’t have time for a second job. There’s no way my mother would let me.”

“Team Miko is an awful name,” Rei added.

“... you guys have no team spirit,” Usagi pouted, sullenly. “Well, fine! We’re still Team Miko in my heart! No, wait! Moon, Mercury, Mars! The 3-M Mikos!”

‘That’s as may be,’ Luna said. ‘But I want to go over one thing again in more detail.’ She leaned forward, her feline face deadly serious. ‘You are _sure_ , you said, that your foe was _Jadeite?_ ’

...

“You look awful, old chap,” Duc Nephite said, leaning against the wall to the side of the duchy’s great black doors as Jadeite marched through them.

The glare Jadeite directed at his rival could have struck a common youma down like a physical blow. Nephrite merely nodded amicably at him.

“I happened to overhear the news,” he said, not even bothering to disguise the lie. “Hard luck on the loss of the harbour. We’ll be seeing more fluctuations in your supply without your guests to smooth out the peaks and troughs, I expect? Well, these things happen. We shall have to make do.”

Jadeite snarled. Nephrite’s eyebrows rose slightly.

“Something to say, old friend?”

Turning curtly with gritted teeth, Jadeite began to stalk away. But Nephrite’s next words stopped him dead.

“Then again, your supply has dwindled recently, hasn’t it? Have those quaint, half-trained girls been getting the best of you? I ask because the queen has called for your presence.”

Jadeite’s hand settled on the hilt of his sword, and such was his expression as he turned that Nephrite pushed off the wall and tensed. For a moment, they matched glares; Nephrite’s cordial attitude gone.

Then Jadeite’s hand fell to his side, and he turned towards the palace. There was smug satisfaction in his fellow general’s voice as he called out one last time.

“Oh, and Jadeite, dear boy?”

This time, Jadeite didn’t stop. But his shoulders did tense as he glanced back, for Nephrite’s smile was a cold and vicious thing.

“She did not look pleased.”

...


	20. Interlude - Light and Shadow

Only a single light illuminated the gloomy room. Sinister music and occasional screams resounded in the dark. The light shifted and pulsed like a living thing, painting the faces of the two girls present in inhuman colours and sending the looming shadows skating wildly across the walls. Huge and distorted, they reared up behind the girls, whose attention was fixed on one thing alone.

“Naru! Be careful!”

The light grew even dimmer. “Fools,” said a monstrous voice. “By coming here, you’ve worked right into the plans of the Dark Agency! We planned this all along. Hand over the magical crystal, or die!”

“Dodge it, dodge it, it’s coming right at you!”

A gasp and a sudden flinch back let the harsh, artificial light glint off the mirror-bright shapes stuck to the ceiling. A moment later, a piercing shriek rang out.

“Naru! Naru, watch out, it’s right there, you gotta- no!” The last word dragged out into a horrified moan, as one of the two girls slumped and fell backwards to lie prone across the floor.

Sad music announced the death of Sailor V as the boss-monster bashed her on the head with a club. For some reason, this made her dissolve into tiny golden sparkles.

With great dignity, Naru turned to her dramatically-sprawled-out friend and gave her an irritated glare.

“It does not,” she said flatly, “help me concentrate when you keep yelling in my ear.”

“I’m sorry.”

“And for another thing, why do we need to have the lights off? It just makes it dark in here.”

“Because there’s way too much glare on your TV screen! It makes it hard to see!”

“No it doesn’t! Are you sure you don’t need glasses?”

“Of course I don’t! My eyesight is perfect! Oh, but maybe I’d look cute with glasses! Okay,” Usagi declared, bouncing upright and making grabby hands at the controller; her dramatic slump forgotten. “Now my turn, my turn! I wanna see how good this is before I try the long and painful and struggling and suffering and painful quest to get Mum to buy it for me when she says I play too many games already and should be studying with Ami,” she shuddered at the prospect of that dark fate, “so gimme!”

Frown hidden in the low light, Naru handed the controller over and listened with half an ear as Usagi restarted the level and began button bashing, somehow guiding Sailor V through a series of obstacles and ugly monsters. It was a little disgusting that given her complete lack of coordination in the rest of her life, she was doing as well as she did.

“Ha! Take that, evil monster! In the name of the V, I will shoot you with laser beams! Pew! Pew pew pew!”

Yes. Ami. Usagi’s new... friend.

Naru was aware she was trying to find something to hate about the girl, and self-conscious enough to feel vaguely guilty about it. But something about the blue-haired nerd just bugged her. She’d gotten chills all up her spine the first time Usagi had introduced them, and the feeling had lingered. But despite a few slightly shameful brooding sessions spent trying to find a chink in her armour, the wonderful Ami was apparently without flaw. She was smart, nice, hard-working, passive enough that she let Usagi drag her around, so much of a stay-at-home nerd that Usagi could have fun introducing her to things like video games and internet videos of cats falling off things and more than an hour of sunlight a week, blah blah _blah_...

She closed her eyes, ignoring a squeal from her friend as she reached the first level boss. No, she was just being bitter now. The stupid monsters in the game were reminding her of the _things_ she knew were all too real. And... well, she’d been storing up stress. She could feel the tension in her skin. She knew what would get rid of it, but she hadn’t had a chance to do it for a few days...

A shrill phone call cut across the game music – not her own sitting on the bed, but from Usagi’s pocket. She startled left into Naru’s shoulder, yelped as an elbow dug into her side below her ribs, threw herself away from the bony appendage reflexively, tangled a hair-streamer in something too dark to make out and faceplanted into the floor again.

“Waagh! Oof! Ow. Hello?”

It wasn’t hard to guess who the muffled, indistinct voice on the other end of the line was. Naru knew Usagi’s mum-is-mad cringe, and this was slightly less terrified and slightly more moon-eyed, therefore...

“Uh, sorry,” Usagi said, snapping the phone shut. “Rei needs me at the shrine. Well, I say ‘needs’ me. Wants me. And is willing to shout at me if I don’t go. And give me chores.” Her gaze went hollow and stricken, dead inside in a way evident even through the gloom. “So many chores...”

Naru sighed. She’d had an hour and a half of Usagi-time. It felt like she was getting fewer and fewer chances to hang out with her best friend, but at least this would give her some time alone to... to fix her stress issues.

“Sure,” she said. “Go ahead. Say hi from me.”

“Will do!” chirped Usagi, already halfway out of the room. Naru watched her go, stared at her console, and waited.

Thirty one seconds later – she’d counted – Usagi stuck her head back through the door and tossed the controller back onto the bed. “Sorry sorry sorry, forgot I still had it, bye again!”

She departed once more. Naru turned off the TV and waited until she heard the clatter of feet on stairs and the slam of the door before moving. Scooting across to her laptop, she flipped it open and started it up, then rolled back the thick rug that covered most of the open space in the middle of her bedroom.

Underneath were the results of five weeks’ obsession. Printouts of headlines, web pages and chatlogs surrounded a double-page spread of scrawled handwriting. Coloured thread connected different pieces of the mind-map together – red for attacks, blue for historical events, green for theory and conjecture. A laminated map of Tokyo was half-covered in post-it notes on one side of the thread-and-paper spiderweb, while the side nearer the bed held tacked-down photographs of the monsters and their moon-themed nemesis.

At the very centre of the double-spread was a single scrawled word, triple-circled and underlined.

_YOUMA_

Humming thoughtfully, Naru walked her fingers along one of the red threads and turned to her laptop. The white screen lit the gloom harshly, but she could deal with the headache that would come from eyestrain later. According to the chatter on one or two conspiracy blogs, there might have been a third Senshi involved in taking down the monsters responsible for the bus kidnappings. Tonight she’d try to confirm that and get a sketch from someone with more artistic talent, or at least a firsthand description. And she wanted a photo of Mercury, too. A proper one, not just a sketch from people who’d seen her.

She sunk into the rote motions of logging into chatrooms, asking questions, hunting through news articles and message boards for information. The eyestrain, her cramping leg and the dull ache in her back from hunching over all faded into the background.

Painted on the wall behind her, her shadow shook its head irritably and stretched for a moment, before settling back into a more comfortable position.

Naru wasn’t scared for herself; that was the thing. _She_ knew what was going on. _She_ knew to be wary. She’d faced these monsters three times now; the mall, the concert and her own _home_. They weren’t going to take _her_ by surprise - after three close calls she could see them coming; could almost taste them on the air. And if she couldn’t fight them, she could at least _run away_ , and warn everyone else to follow suit.

It might get her looked at like she was a crazy person at first, but any doubters would shut up after the first monster bared its ugly face. Naru was kind of past caring what random strangers thought of her anyway. With _actual demons_ wandering around Tokyo, who cared about some social awkwardness?

So she wasn’t scared for herself. She had tools for this.

But Usagi didn’t. Her bestie had come almost as close as Naru to the monsters - she’d been there at the concert and one of them had even had its hands on her at the mall. And despite that, she seemed oblivious to it! Still dancing around like a ditz as always, like nothing was wrong and there was no need to worry, and Naru loved her for it; she really _did_ , but...

Deep down, Naru knew what the outcome of a monster happening upon Usagi alone would be. Knew, and felt sick at the knowledge.

The government wasn’t doing anything. Nobody official had shown up with... with demon-busting guns or anything at the concert – heck, the security people at the mall had been _hosting_ demons. Maybe they had people in the police and the army! Or the mayor’s office or something! If they could work in plain sight in a crowded mall, nobody could be trusted! And Sailors Moon and Mercury were fighting the good fight, but they were just two heroes, and couldn’t be expected to save every person in Tokyo.

So that meant it was up to Naru to protect her friend. Well, not _just_ her; that Hino girl seemed to have her head screwed on right and was taking defensive measures with her ofuda and wards. But that was as bad as it was good – because it meant that a shrine maiden who dealt with spirits all the time thought Usagi was the kind of person who’d be likely to attract monsters. And Usagi only saw Hino during her part time job. Naru knew her friend better and saw her more; so if anyone was going to shoulder the lion’s share of guard duty it was going to have to be her.

Right now she was working on the old adage from... some old guy or another: Know Your Enemy. There was lots of information on the occult and on demons in the Deep Web if you knew where to look for it.

... well, alright, the bits of the web that were more than five clicks away from the first page of the search results. But that was basically the Deep Web.

A lot of that information was gibberish, or obviously made up, or just _felt_ wrong, but there were a few bits that were very interesting. Like the fact that these monsters had a history that went back a long, long way. Thousands of years, if the web translations of these stupid English web pages were right. They were really bad translations. She was having to learn way more English than they actually taught at school because none of the online translators knew enough words for the kind of things that webpages about the occult talked about. 

But from what she’d been able to gather, there were descriptions that sounded about right from all over the world. There were life-sucking monsters out there, hiding in hell or another dimension or maybe even an alien planet with secret gateways that could get them to Earth. They’d been called on by Chinese sorcerers, invoked by Victorian occultists and feared by Caribbean vodouists. A few of the nutcases who’d summoned up monsters and tried talking to them had written about some sort of title system they used amongst themselves.

There were some useful tricks and rituals she’d turned up, too. Some she’d adapted from stuff on history sites; others she’d been let in on by other people investigating the monsters. One of them in particular looked promising, and it was that one Naru planned on trying out now. She’d come across it on a site where other Japanese schoolgirls hung out and talked about magic. They were amateurs – people into the occult just to feel _special_ or _mysterious_ who probably hadn’t even ever seen a youma – and Naru had noticed this little ritual being maligned by a “practitioner” who claimed it was useless and didn’t work. Pah. The so-called expert hadn’t known anything about youma either when Naru had signed up using a different username to ask questions.

So really, that girl was stupid and no better than the others. Naru had something she didn’t. She had her secret weapon.

With faintly shaking fingers, she spread out the folded print-out from the concert. On one side of the shot, Sailor Moon was etched in impossible detail; her aura almost whiting out the high-res camera with overexposure. Opposite her was nothing more than a shifting mass of blurred shadows and what looked like ruined film – despite the fact that the photo had been digital.

The monsters had ways of hiding from cameras. Obviously. Naru wasn’t even surprised. Any proper conspiracy by soul-eating monsters would have some way to stop them getting photographed. But even if this wasn’t a picture of the monster itself, it was still an image of its _magic_ – and that meant she could use it. In some ways it might work even better this way.

Skimming through the badly portrayed instructions again – and skipping the one about the stupid chanting which obviously did nothing – she checked her materials. Photo, lamp, bowl, kettle full of boiling water, salt, map, tray. Check. Cutting down the middle of the photograph, she settled the monster’s half in the bowl, flicked the lamp on and angled to cast no shadows over the bowl’s contents. Then she slowly tipped the boiling water in and sprinkled the salt on top, trying to avoid any thoughts of this being like cooking. She sat back on her heels, and waited, biting her lip, _urging_ the spell to work.

Behind her, painted on the wall, her shadow leant to one side to watch over her shoulder. It flicked its fingers encouragingly at the bowl.

The water began to darken. Ink leeched out of the paper, tinting the contents black and obscuring the bottom. Naru left it for a few minutes until it seemed as dark as it was going to get, then fished the paper out with a pair of tweezers.

The sodden paper was starting to disintegrate, but the photo was still visible on it. The stage, the park, the hints of the sky...

... and no murky shadows or monster.

Naru grinned. So, she now had the image of a monster’s magic, bottled up in liquid form. Perfect.

She had already set the map of Tokyo up in the tray, and protected it with tightly wrapped cling-film. As soon as the water had cooled enough to touch, Naru poured a little onto the centre of the city, watching the black liquid run out in rivulets. Only a little, though. Covering the tray would be pointless.

Now all she had to do was focus on the link between the map and the real thing and let the magic-y water settle. With the image of a monster in the water and an image of the city in the map, the ink would be drawn to the places in the _real_ city where the _real_ monsters were! Hah! And those idiots online had said it was useless! In a few more minutes...

Someone knocked on the door.

“Naru?”

She bit back a naughty word, diving for the rug and yanking it over her mind-map on the floor. Casting around frantically, she grabbed the nearest covering – a t-shirt that hadn’t made it to the laundry bin yet – and threw it over the tray as the bedroom door opened. Light spilled into the room, washing over the open laptop, the desk lamp and the squinting teenager behind them.

“Owwww...”

Her mother did not look impressed or sympathetic to her pain. She glanced around the room with a faint frown.

“Naru, what are you doing up here? You shouldn’t be working in the dark like this.”

“Just... surfing the web,” Naru offered. “Uh, I was halfway through a... an online news article. Research. For school.”

“Mmm.” Mayumi Osaka surveyed her daughter’s room again, but other than the unused desk and the normal amount of teenage mess on the floor, nothing seemed out of place. “Well, come downstairs and help me cook. I’ll be out tomorrow evening, so I want to get something made that we can put in the fridge for you to reheat.”

“But...”

“ _Now_ , Naru.” Mayumi’s tone was warning, and Naru grudgingly pushed herself upright and trudged downstairs. Halfway down, her nose identified the spices wafting up from the kitchen, and she groaned. Great. Her mother was trying new things again. And not just in the kitchen.

It wasn’t that Naru was _against_ her mum starting to date, exactly. It was good that she was getting over Dad leaving! She’d spent the better part of a decade just sort of drifting in her social life and honestly being a bit flaky where it didn’t relate to the shop. It was only in the last year or so that she’d started to pull herself back together and focus more.

It was just that her taste in which men to focus _on_ was terrible. Itsuki was such a fake! He tried to be friendly with Naru, in that patronising idiot way some adults had where they confused “not over twenty yet” with “permanently four years old”, but all it did was set her teeth on edge. He was only interested in her mother, and she could tell he wished there wasn’t an inconvenient daughter around. And he acted like a lovesick puppy around Mayumi and it was disgusting! Plus, he was even older than her mother and he shaved his head to cover the fact that he was totally going bald and could do with losing some weight.

“Naru?” Mayumi said mildly. “You’re scowling. Is something wrong?”

“Uh... this is Malaysian, right?” Naru guessed, eyeing the pots on the stove as she followed her mother into the kitchen. Old school trophies from Mayumi’s own education sat on the shelves, gathering dust, and photos of Naru’s younger years warred for space with certificates. On one row behind glass lay a collection of semi-precious stones and geodes that her mother had picked up as samples from industry sellers. “I’m just not sure I’ll like it. The last one tasted kind of weird. What’s wrong with rice or noodles? You know, proper food.”

Mayumi sighed. “Honestly, Naru. You’re always so picky and critical. Give it a chance and stop complaining – and here, shred these vegetables.”

At least that was an easy job that didn’t need her to be near the pot. Naru settled into taking out some of her frustrations on the turnip, and brooded.

It wasn’t just that Itsuki was an awful, awful person who just wanted to get kissy with her mum, she thought as she resumed her mental monologue. But _urgh_ , why did she have to do it _now?_ Now, when Naru would have to figure out ways to double-check anyone she seemed at all serious about to make sure they weren’t a monster in disguise. Or being controlled by a demon. Or a member of a secret evil cult that had been lurking in the shadows for millennia and only now was stepping forwards to seize control of all of Tokyo. He looked like the sort. And her mum was almost as flaky as Usagi, sometimes – and not nearly as fast on her feet.

“So, Naru. How have you been doing in school?” Mayumi said, stirring the pot gingerly. “Any new friends? Or clubs, or hobbies?”

“Um... not really. I mean, Usagi has a couple of new friends, but they’re more hers than mine.”

“Mmm.” _That_ sound Naru knew well, and it never failed to annoy her. If you clearly weren’t interested in something; you shouldn’t ask – not ask and then make uninterested humming sounds.

“I guess there are a couple of clubs that I’ve been looking at,” Naru added, kicking herself for trying to change the vaguely unsatisfied, disapproving tone with more detail. It never worked, but she kept trying regardless; a pointless habit she couldn’t kick. “There’s an amateur occultist group that’s sort of... semi-official, and one of my friends is really into it. Things like crane games and card guessing – I said I’d go to a few meetings with her.”

“That sounds interesting for you.” Naru winced at the flat tone. Okay, that attempt had definitely missed. “Do I know her?”

“Huh?”

“This friend.” Mayumi glanced at her in between doing something complicated with a paring knife and a chicken breast. “The one ‘really into’ the occult.”

“Yumiko Nanba – from my class? We’re not me-and-Usagi close, but we get along, so...”

“Mmm. Well, bring her around at some point. You know I’m always eager to meet the people you spend time with. Are the vegetables done?”

Naru’s lips thinned. She _had_ brought Yumiko round just a few weeks ago – Usagi and Kuri had come too and they’d made it a girl’s night. Mum hadn’t remembered her; big surprise. “Yeah, here. Hey, um, I should go up and just check over the last few answers on my Biology, if that’s okay? I’ll be down for dinner.”

Mayumi nodded absently, humming something under her breath as she swept the vegetables into a pot, and Naru took advantage of her distraction to slip out of the room again.

She was free. _Finally_. Naru wasted no time hightailing it upstairs and back into her room. Please, please, please let the shirt not have…

It hadn’t. No ink stains had bled through, and it wasn’t sagging inward into the middle of the tray at all. Sighing with relief, Naru whipped it off. Now that she had a location, she could investigate a bit, or maybe…

… maybe…

Naru Osaka stared down at the results of her amateur spell in horror. Her face, lit by the screen of her laptop, was ghost-pale. For a second or two, she thought that it hadn’t worked; that the ink hadn’t moved. But no; it was too clustered, too ordered – little blobby shapes like bacteria, with hair-fine follicles of ink spreading out from the central mass and a few longer tendrils stretching into streets or down rows of houses.

And there were dozens of them.

 _Dozens_. All making a shape that looked like it meant something, though it wasn’t any kanji she knew.

She’d expected one or two; a headquarters or centre of command for the monsters infiltrating Tokyo. A sorcerer’s tower, maybe – a modern sorcerer; the up-to-date version of those rich old guys back in the old days who’d called up demons and spirits in pursuit of immortality. Maybe it would be centred on a corporate building where grey-faced execs were dabbling with dark powers for profit, or… or centred in some foreign terrorist cell, or _something_ singular, something that made _sense_.

Not a map with more ink blots than she could count with both hands and someone else to help.

She took a shaky breath, trying not to throw up. Something was rotten in Tokyo. And that meant… that meant she needed to investigate.

She needed to investigate, because this was an invasion force – no, an _occupying_ force, and maybe they were planning to open up some sort of hell portal or something, so she _needed_ to know what was going on so she could _understand_.

And once she had all the information? Then she could call in Sailor Moon and watch her drop the hammer on these things once and for all. Or the… glowing… head… tiara… thing.

Clicking the lamp on and arranging it carefully, Naru lifted the stained map out of the tray. The ink was drying, but still tacky – she’d need to be careful not to smear it. Lining up her phone and checking the light levels, she took a quick snap of it. That would do as a backup if this one got ruined.

Now… if she was _here_ – she marked the store with a pin and wrinkled her nose at the faint smudge of ink over the building. She already knew about _that_ attack, and didn’t need reminding. But that meant that the smudge just _there_ was only fifteen minutes walk away, and it was still light out.

Sliding her phone into her pocket and gingerly nudging the map under her bed to dry, Naru pushed herself upright and clattered down the stairs.

“Mum!” she called. “Usagi forgot her phone! I’m going to run it back to her, okay? Back later!”

She was out the door and running before she heard the reply.

...

Her investigations were somewhat hampered by the fact she wasn’t quite sure which building on the map was the one her spell had found. Or even which street. Her map of Tokyo didn’t have a fraction of the detail she needed to know things down to that level. But she was hoping that there was something nice and obvious in the area now that she knew to be looking.

There wasn’t. There were no buildings with too many gargoyles on top, there were no mysterious plumes of many-coloured smoke, and there were no youma dragging people off the streets to a secret hideaway. Which was good! But it did make it harder to find them. No, all she could find was a sense of paleness, a gut feeling that there was something _stretched_ about the area. She’d been hoping that her instincts would point her to the right building, but the best she could manage was to pin it down to one particular street where it felt strongest. Probably.

Eyes narrowed, Naru kept her back pressed against the wall – drawing more than a few strange looks in the process – and looked around. There, a pachinko parlour with a sign saying ‘EVERYONE WINS’; there, a bar playing too loud music; there, a nightclub promising ‘THE NIGHT OF YOUR LIFE’. None of them were places she’d be allowed into, and she didn’t really know what was normal for those kind of establishments anyway. For all she knew, all of them were corrupted.

Closing her eyes, she raised one hand and tried to feel the air. But there was no luck there. The thinness and weirdness was all around her, but she couldn’t feel what was making it. It was like looking for a forest when you were surrounded by trees, or trying to pick a single starting mistake out of Usagi’s maths homework.

“Damn, damn, damn,” Naru muttered. If she’d brought some of the youma ink, maybe she could have poured some of it onto the ground and seen which way it tried to roll, or maybe if she’d borrowed one of Mum’s necklaces she could have tried to make some kind of dowsing tool. That was what psychics did on TV, right?

She screwed her eyes shut and wished really, really hard for a clue. 

Nothing happened.

Naru slumped down with a melodramatic sigh. This magical psychic detective business was much harder than TV made it look. She checked her watch. Still some time before dinner. She should probably check that Usagi had actually made it to the shrine without being attacked by a monster. It was force of habit by now – she’d been trailing after Usagi since they were tiny; stopping her falling into lakes and pulling her back from attempts to pet big unfriendly dogs. And oh yes, she could certainly imagine Usagi blindly skipping down this weird, stretched-thin street and – urgh – probably accepting ice cream from strangers if she’d just come with them…

Yes, a quick walk to Hikawa Shrine was probably a very good idea. It would help put her mind at rest, and she was most of the way there anyway. She _had_ been spending too much time inside in her room and the magazines said that was bad. A walk would do her good.

Her calves and thighs were strenuously disagreeing with this assertion as she climbed the hill up to the shrine, but by the time she was half way up it seemed too late to give up. She stepped through the gates.

There was no sign of Usagi anywhere. Not even when she called her name out loud.

“No,” Naru whispered. “No, no, no.” All her worst fears were coming true and Usagi had been grabbed by monsters and…

“Oh, pretty young lady,” the old priest said, as he bustled over, looking up at Naru. Recognition flickered in his eyes. He ran his hand over his balding head. “Are you here looking for Usagi? Well, I suppose you are, unless you’re searching for your lost rabbit.” His bushy brows waggled, as he invited her to share in his joke. She didn’t feel like laughing. “She and Rei and that nice young Ami girl just left. They said they were going out to catch a movie.”

An ice-cold bolt of betrayal lanced through Naru’s chest. Usagi had… had gone to do something without her. And hadn’t even told the truth about what she was doing. Had she thought that Naru wouldn’t find out? She probably would have gotten away with it, too, if Naru hadn’t decided to check that she’d made her way here safely. Usagi didn’t want to be friends with her anymore and… and…

No, she was being silly, Naru told herself even as her eyes blurred. Usagi wasn’t that good a liar. But maybe Usagi’s new friends didn’t like her and that meant they didn’t invite her and-and-and…

The old man’s eyes widened. “Is something the matter?” he asked, his voice gentle.

“I… oh, I think Usagi might have accidentally picked up my phone and… and I know it doesn’t matter but I just feel so _stupid_ and…” Naru trailed away, wiping her eyes on her sleeve. “I’ll see her tomorrow. She can… she can give it to me then. If she hasn’t lost it.” But her mouth was running on autopilot and she wasn’t sure that Rei’s grandfather believed her.

“Are you sure? You’re crying.”

Her eyes drifted over to the wobbling shaving of the pale moon, visible over the buildings from the heights of the shrine. In the late afternoon, her shadow stretched out long and black behind her. It was getting late and she was probably in trouble. “I’m fine,” Naru said in a little voice. “I… I need to get home. Mum’s cooking n-now. I’m fine. Everything is… fine.”

But everything wasn’t fine. And she had to take a detour around the street where her spell had told her there might be youma, because the police had cordoned the entire street and the fire engines were there. It meant she was even later than she would have otherwise been, and got shouted at for running out of the house just before dinner. Her mother wasn’t very happy to hear about the fact that the police had blocked off a street she’d tried to go down when Naru used that as an excuse, either.

“You need to keep yourself safe,” Mayumi told her, over her lukewarm dinner. “You can’t just go out without thinking, especially before dinner! I don’t know what I’d do if you got badly hurt! It’s just the two of us – what would we do if I got injured or sick while you weren’t able to take care of yourself?”

Great. Motherly guilty trips, Naru thought bitterly. “Yes, mum,” she said, nursing black betrayal in her heart. “Thank you for the meal,” she added, digging into food she didn’t like.

...


End file.
